A partnership between two drugmakers and a company that makes fitness trackers aims to address gaps in the diagnosis of atrial fibrillation.
New York-based drugmakers Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer – operating as the BMS-Pfizer Alliance – and San Francisco-based Fitbit said Thursday that they would collaborate to improve earlier detection of AFib, with the aim of improving earlier detection in people who are at increased risk of stroke. AFib, which is a risk factor for stroke, is estimated to affect about 8 million people in the U.S. this year and is likely to grow as the population ages, according to a 2013 paper. The companies delivered the news at the Time 100 Health Summit in New York.
AFib detection software will be created for Fitbit devices and then submitted to the Food and Drug Administration. After approval, the companies will work to provide educational content and information to encourage and inform people’s discussions with physicians.
“We’re in a new era of healthcare, where we’re not only focused on developing treatments, but also looking at the potential of technology and data to help patients learn more about their health,” Pfizer Biopharmaceuticals Group President Angela Hwang said in a statement. “We are excited about wearables and how our work with BMS and Fitbit may potentially help patients and physicians detect and understand heart rhythm irregularities.”
Collaborations like the one between BMS-Pfizer and Fitbit have grown in importance in recent years, especially for biopharma companies. At the DTx East Conference in Boston last month, a panel of experts mostly agreed that partnerships between drugmakers and digital therapeutics could be an opportunity worth billions of dollars. One panelist was more skeptical with regard to the dollar amount, but stated that in some areas like mental health, digital therapeutics can potentially be more effective than pharmacological approaches.
Wearable devices like Fitbit and the Apple Watch have been growing in popularity as a way to improve health outcomes. In August, the government of Singapore enlisted Fitbit as part of a population health initiative, whereby participants would pay a monthly fee for health coaching services and software, while receiving the devices for free. And in September of last year, the Apple Watch received approval from the Food and Drug Administration as a way to detect atrial fibrillation as well as perform electrocardiograms.
Photo: Fitbit
