This post has been updated from an earlier version.
THREAD Research has developed a smart watch application for tracking epileptic seizures for ResearchKit with Johns Hopkins University and had it on display at the SXSW festival this week.
In an interview with AJ Triano, vice president of digital at THREAD Research, he described its approach with the EpiWatch. The goal is to track the severity and length of the seizure using sensors such as an accelerometer and a gyroscope as well as a memory test when the user comes out of the event.
The application is designed to capture 10 minutes worth of data.
“We do two things with the data,” Triano said. “We display it for users to share with doctors so they can get an immediate benefit.” He added that Johns Hopkins University is doing a study with the company and collecting that data for analysis.
“We want to see if we can find common patterns across the data that’s collected to make this a real-time [seizure] detection device” that can identify the type of seizure someone is having to alert emergency personnel or caregivers.
In response to an emailed questions about the number of participants it had recruited for the EpiWatch study so far, Dr. Gregory Krauss, lead principal investigator for the study, said:
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
One health tech company active in the epilepsy space is Neutun. It has collaborated Pebble and other smartwatch producers by applying sensors to smartwatch straps.
Narcolepsy is another indication the company plans to pursue for the smart watch.
