Snapshot of the story:

The KardiaBand by AliveCor was an FDA approved ECG/EKG wristband designed for use with earlier versions of the Apple Watch, augmenting the watch's health offerings before Apple Watch 4 launched with its own ECG. AliveCor have now withdrawn their Kardiaband from the market, and this will no longer be available with the Apple watch. 

Why it is notable - Divorcing Big Tech

• It shows us (unsurprisingly so) that Apple is taking serious steps in building its own health capabilities, to the extent that its dependency on companies like AliveCor is going to dwindle.
• Won't pay a big price: This divorce also shows us that the Apple watch was perhaps too expensive a host for an otherwise great portable EKG technology that is being offered by AliveCor.  
• Device upgrade and no integration required: Apple's own EKG scanning and AF detection technology uses sensors on the underside of the watch to pick up on the reading in 30s. On the contrary, the Kardiaband was a thin wrist band designed specifically for the Apple Watch that returned single-lead EKG readings. 

‍Industry Implications - Choose Partnerships Wisely 

• More sales for AliveCor? AliveCor's KardiaMobile devices cost less than $200, compared with the $400 Apple Watch. AliveCor experienced an 80% hike in sales following the Apple Watch 4's announcement, which may have been due to Apple's own marketing efforts to disseminate the importance of managing cardiovascular health.
• Acquisition is better than a partnership? The big guns like Apple could partner with new technologies and start-up ideas in their pilots and experiments, and then build their own internal capability to deliver the same as is apparent from this example, thus eliminating the need for the start-up. An acquisition may allow greater success for the start-up.

Snapshot of the story: 

Initial results from a feasibility study conducted by Eli Lilly and Company, Evidation Health, and Apple Inc. showed that an iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad and the Beddit sleep monitoring device, in combination with digital apps, may be able to differentiate people with mild cognitive impairment and mild Alzheimer's disease dementia.The paper was presented on August 8 at the Association for Computing Machinery's KDD conference in Anchorage.

Why it is notable - The potential of common consumer devices

• Six million Americans suffer from Alzheimer's disease and other dementias – this is expected to be one of the largest health problems not only in the U.S. but across all societies with aging demographics. Early diagnosis of cognitive impairment has traditionally been challenging.
• In ways not previously detected through common clinical screening tools, data obtained through the use of Apple devices has suggested an ability to differentiate between individuals with mild cognitive impairment and mild Alzheimer’s disease dementia, and those without symptoms. 
• The potential to capture behavioral features from digital biomarkers provides us with some validation on the use of these biomarkers. For example, they found that individuals aged 60-75 with symptoms of cognitive impairment are more likely to type slower than those without symptoms of cognitive impairment.

Industry Implications - Novel input, novel processing, novel metrics

• These early findings suggest the potential of novel digital measures that are based on data generated and controlled by individuals.
• The use of digital biomarkers is not limited to detecting dementia early - this could mean novel end points for clinical trials, detecting and predicting flares in other conditions - the uses are many.

Snapshot of the Story: 

Prudential life insurance has partnered with video consultation provider MyDoc to power their app 'Pulse' with video consult capabilities with doctors in 11 Asian countries.

Why it's notable - Insurance companies partnering for success

• Prudential has been super active in creating new partnerships that leverage health tech companies, especially in preventative health and online consults.
• MyDoc has also been active in partnering with insurers beyond Prudential - Vitality, Aetna, Cigna.
• Asia is emerging from the shadows with excellent examples of scalable initiatives and partnerships as is clear from the two stories highlighted, and last week's story on Halodoc in Indonesia.
  

Industry Implications -  The Telemed Renaissance 

• Telemedicine is a healthcare reality. We've been talking about telemedicine for years now! But it is only being used more widely around the world more recently. Asia esp, is ideal for telemedicine given its population size, mobile phone explosion among these populations, dearth of PCPs and specialists to cater to so many people and budgetary constraints of the accessing population. 
• Payers seem to be forthcoming - not lagging behind in trying and testing technology that could improve their value prop and spread. Think about all the recent activity - Guidewell's investment in Vida Health, Cigna's investment in GNS Healthcare, Prudential and Bupa's partnerships with Babylon, to list a few. 

‍

‍The news stories in this email were captured using the HealthXL Data Platform, which aims to be your one source of truth in digital health. We are excited to announce that we officially releasing the platform this month. If you would like to learn more about how to get access to the platform, please contact us.

‍