Health IT

Fitbit CEO details ambitions for diabetes management

Fitbit CEO and chairman James Park outlined the company's progress in a conference call late Wednesday to discuss the company's earnings in the third quarter.

Fitbit Ionic smartwatch

Since the start of the year, Fitbit has made emphasized its interest in making disease management more than just a clinical study subject but part of its offer. To that end, it has been especially active in diabetes management with collaboration partners that include medical device giant Medtronic and DexCom. Fitbit CEO and chairman James Park outlined the company’s  progress in a conference call late Wednesday to discuss the company’s earnings in the third quarter.

He noted partnerships with Medtronic and DexCom have involved integrating data streams from their connected glucose monitors into Fitbit’s data stream and display that data on Fitbit’s app. In the future, it plans to integrate that data via its developer community SDK on its Ionic smartwatch and other Fitbit products.

“That is actually a big step forward. For a lot of people managing their diabetes, access to that data has traditionally been very difficult so just being able to have that data be able to merge into other data streams and be avail in real time” is an advancement for people with diabetes.

But Park noted that the bigger healthcare opportunity for the business might come with programming and coaching accompanying the data from its partnerships to guide users on issues such as nutrition, activities and other lifestyle behaviors to help people at risk for diabetes steer clear of developing the condition.

“I think there is a lot of exciting opportunities here and I think our partnerships along with pre-certification acceptance lay the foundation of a lot of cool things to come.”

Taking stock of Fitbit’s data repository Park claimed it was one of the largest for activity, fitness and sleep data with 90 billion hours of heart rate data, 100 billion hours of exercise data and 85 trillion steps. Collectively, he said this data has the potential to be used to develop algorithms and advanced sensors to detect more serious health conditions that affect millions of people. 

He offered a couple of examples with its Ionic smartwatch. Park pointed out that it was used to spot sleep apnea. In a clinical trial, its SpO2 sensor detected heart arrhythmias and was able to keep false positives under one percent.

A broader look at the business showed that sales in the U.S. rose 23 percent to $244 million for the third quarter, according to a news release. Fitbit sold 3.6 million devices, a seven percent increase over the second quarter. More than 40 percent of activations in the quarter came from customers who made repeat purchases, an important stat for a business seeking to prove its users don’t easily tire of its fitness trackers and smartwatches.

One setback the company experienced in the third quarter was the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by WYNIT, one of the largest distributors in the U.S. Fitbit is the largest creditor for the business, according to a USA Today report. The event subtracted $8 million from its revenues.

Photo: Fitbit

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