The number of connected devices is truly startling. Gartner estimates that there are currently about 4.9 billion connected devices and expects that to grow 30 percent to 6.39 billion next year. A CB Insights article goes beyond the garden variety wearables we’ve become accustomed to and offers a reminder of just how diverse the applications for these devices in medicine and healthcare can be.
Swallowable sensors for me represents the most intriguing aspect of the Internet of Things. It not only opens a whole new way of remotely monitoring patients, but also has huge implications for the ability to assess the dosages of medications on individuals, reduce the side effects by prescribing less or more or changing the medication altogether and potentially improve adherence. It could also impact clinical trials further down the line. Obviously it is early days so who knows how long it will take for this technology to go mainstream. Much is riding on the first critical milestone for this subsector: the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is currently evaluating the first digital medicine/New Drug Application submitted by Otsuka Pharmaceuticals and Proteus Digital Health. It involves using the sensor for patients taking Abilify to manage schizophrenia and other sever mental illnesses.
Hearables I wasn’t familiar with wearables described this way and at first glance thought it involved devices for the deaf or hard of hearing. Although it can include these hearing aid, it also includes the broader area of tracking fitness metrics and biometric data through ear buds. Look to companies such as Valencell — its technology is used in SMS Audio BioSport’s ear phones — as well as FreeWavz and Bragi. Valencell’s Steve LeBoeuf has argued that this approach to wearables offers a much more accurate way to track vitals, especially because it’s not subject to as much variability as the something worn on the wrist. One example CB Insights uses is Doppler Labs, which raised $17 million earlier this year for technology that helps people block out or amplify desirable and undesirable sounds.
When Investment Rhymes with Canada
Canada has a proud history of achievement in the areas of science and technology, and the field of biomanufacturing and life sciences is no exception.
Computer Vision is a pretty broad area but basically it is nursing technology such as artificial intelligence to amplify vision. Although CB Insights uses drones as an example, there are some applications I and some of my colleagues have covered in the past couple of years. IFL Science developed eSight electronic glasses. The headset is mounted on lens frames, and uses a high-definition camera to feed real-time video footage onto organic light-emitting diode screens placed in front of the user’s eyes. A separate handheld device helps the user adjust and magnify the image to gain the best possible picture of the world around them. Aira.io took a different approach to helping visually disabled people navigate around obstacles. It developed a navigation platform that transmits through Google Glass to give wearers audio instructions based on what they see in front of them and where they are trying to go. The smart glasses let navigators see what the wearer sees and direct them to where they are going and steers them away from obstacles in their path. Although people with visual disabilities are one area of interest, another potential patient population is people with Alzheimer’s disease.
Electronic Medical Record Support Another application for smart glasses is to help physicians overcome the complaint that the need to record patient information in digital medical records is reducing eye contact between physicians and patients and undermining these interactions. Companies such as Augmedix are using smart glasses to record and transmit this information as they conduct exams.
Moodables Lastly, we come to the most consumer wellness segment of most consumer-oriented segment of the Internet of Things universe and the most consumer-oriented. These devices developed by companies like Emotiv, Thync, Melon, and Muse, make an awful lot of claims from improving relaxation to helping people with post traumatic stress disorder and attention deficit disorder. but have provided little publicly available validation that these tools can do everything they say they can. There’s plenty of anecdotal feedback. But at this point this segment generates a lot of fun conversation of the power of being able to see ones brainwaves. But if the idea is to help people relax and calm down, why not just switch on some classical or relaxing music? Too low tech? I look forward to seeing some of clinical validation next year.
Photo: Proteus Digital Health (featured), Augmedix
