Dexcom’s G6 continuous glucose monitoring system
San Diego, California-based startup Fitabase, which allows researchers to manage and link data from connected consumer devices, has now branched out into glucose monitoring data through a deal with Dexcom as it looks advance its efforts to support precision medicine.
The new integration will allow the startup to ingest and aggregate data from Dexcom Continuous Glucose Monitors in order to help researchers better understand the link between certain activities and glucose levels.
Fitabase CEO Aaron Coleman drew a parallel between the higher resolution, longitudinal dataset created through wearables and the information collected through CGMs, which is superior to traditional finger stick tests that vary widely in compliance and collection methods.
Fitabase’s technology allows for the secure collection of data created through consumer devices in a platform that’s easily accessible by researchers.
“Integration of Dexcom CGM devices into one of the leading connected device data management and research platforms will further extend the reach and benefits of our technology, while highlighting Dexcom’s ecosystem-enhanced approach to innovation in diabetes,” said Annika Jimenez, Senior Vice President of Data at Dexcom, in a statement.
Coleman said he sees the integration being particularly useful to researchers looking at how behavioral recommendations in areas like physical activity and sleep can affect glucose levels to create more tailored care plans for diabetic patients.
“It ties into this theme of precision medicine and the question of whether we better tailor treatments to an individual based on an individual’s outcomes,” Coleman said “All of that requires scientific research in order to show that there’s efficacy for these types of patient care models.”
Fitabase was launched in 2012 to help researchers use and manage the data created by Fitbit wearables in academic and clinical studies, but has grown through additional device integrations starting with a deal with Garmin last year.
Coleman leads the small five-person team and said the company is profitable, with continuous growth in revenue and profits year-over-year. Fitabase’s platform has supported more than 500 research studies and delivered more than 4 billion minutes of data to researchers.
Moving forward, Coleman said he foresees more device integrations in the near future as well as continuing collaborations with researchers to create tools that more actively use the data created on passive-use devices.
“The notion that digital tools are part of research is here to stay. That idea was a question mark when we started seven years ago,” Coleman said. “We’ve graduated past whether we want to engage people to letting people pick things they want to wear to have as seamless an experience as possible for them.”
Photo: exdez, Getty Images
