Ned Anderson: The Digital Health Update by Paul Sonnier ⋅ Aug 19, 2017 ⋅ #288

I made this announcement to 57,777 members of the Digital Health group on LinkedIn. If you’re on LinkedIn, please do join the group, which allows you to opt in to receiving these announcements in addition to connecting with thousands of other global stakeholders in digital health. Note that I will continue to update this announcement up until sending out the final version via LinkedIn. I’m also now using Constant Contact to send an html and image-rich version of my announcements. You can subscribe to that version here.

The Digital Health Update by Paul Sonnier ⋅ Aug 19, 2017 ⋅ #288

Dear Group,

I’m delighted to announce a featured event: “DPharm & Mobile in Clinical Trials Conference: 7th Annual”, taking place Sept 6-8 in Boston, MA. Organized by the Conference Forum, DPharm is the premier event focusing on disruptive digital and mobile innovations in clinical research. Keynote speakers include leaders from Pfizer, Janssen, and Duke Research. Digital Health group members receive a 10% discount by using code PSL when registering on the conference website.

I’ve published one issue of my newsletter since last week’s group announcement. The top stories include the “Internet of DNA”, successful cancer patient outcomes in a trial of early detection of tumor DNA via a liquid biopsy (blood test), and a new test being offered for hereditary high cholesterol motivates positive patient lifestyle behavior changes far behind routine cholesterol testing done by doctors today and offers an opportunity to alert children and parents to their elevated risk before plaque builds up later in life. Also, CRISPR gene editing may enable organ transplants from pigs into humans.

You can read the full newsletter below or here.

Also, please note that I’m seeking a direct role with a company or organization that would, ideally, complement and leverage all that I’ve built and am doing, including my keynote speaking, weekly newsletter, Digital Health LinkedIn group management/curation, and contributing editor role at Innovation and Tech Today. My professional bio is viewable here. Please contact me if you see a potential fit or would like to advertise in my announcements, newsletter, and website.

The Digital Health Newsletter for Aug 14, 2017

The Internet of DNA (my term) may be vulnerable to hacking in a similar way to the Internet of Things (IoT) and other computing devices. When DNA is transcribed, computers read the four bases (A, T, G, and C) and turn them into binary data: 1s and 0s. Once this is completed, the now-binary DNA code can escape the sequencing program and execute commands in the sequencing machine itself and/or downstream computing systems. Fortunately, this was just a test and the real-world risk remains low at present time.

A team of Chinese University of Hong Kong researchers led by Dennis Lo has published a study in the New England Journal of Medicine demonstrating that an inexpensive genetic test called a “liquid biopsy” (blood test) can detect tumor DNA and result in early cure of the disease in patients. The study was done on individuals screened for nasopharyngeal cancer.

Color Genomics — which is best known as a provider of tests for genes related to cancer risk — has just introduced a new ‘ Hereditary High Cholesterol Test‘, which tests 3 genes known to cause Familial Hypercholesterolemia (FH). About 1 in 50 people with high cholesterol are born with FH, which causes very high levels of cholesterol and increases the risk of heart attack and stroke. While some critics in the medical establishment (cardiologists) say that routine cholesterol testing is just as good at identifying risk, it turns out that patients told that they have FH stop taking their cholesterol medicines 20% of the time, while other patients with high cholesterol (including those with undiagnosed FH) quit their meds a whopping 60% of the time.

Moreover, as Matthew Herper at Forbes reports, “Patients with FH usually start having high cholesterol in childhood, but doctors often don’t spot the problem until they are at middle age, when years of plaque buildup has already done its damage.” He adds that there “may also be some value in treating these patients differently from other people who have high cholesterol.”

In CRISPR news, it turns out that the gene editing tool has the ability to create piglets free of viruses that might create diseases in humans. This holds major implications for enabling organ transplants into humans.

WEARABLE TECH

Images of the new Fitbit smartwatch reveal that the company may switch from using green LED optical sensors to infrared sensors for heart rate monitoring. The watch will have an array of apps from partners plus an SDK for other app-developers. Expected availability is this year’s holiday shopping season.

Samsung has filed a listing with the FCC for its long-rumored ” Samsung Gear Sport” digital health wearable. The device, which looks more like a smartwatch than a fitness band, may be revealed during the company’s Unpacked event on August 23.

SPORTS AND FITNESS

Sports and fitness club Planet Fitness recently surpassed 10 million members. The company’s CEO states that this is a result of strong marketing, inclusiveness, and by competing with non-fitness activities, like movie theaters & restaurants. The company also has an app, but it seems to be less of a focus compared to companies like Under Armour, which has nearly 190 million users of their apps. Perhaps Planet Fitness should consider ‘virtual gyms’ as competitors, too.

LIVING AND SOCIETY

MSNBC recently aired a segment on the opioid drug addiction crisis in America. Inexplicably, however, while explaining that people can order Fentanyl (an opioid pain medication with a rapid onset and short duration of action) online from China, the presenters actually provided step-by-step instructions as to how consumers can do this themselves.

CNET is apparently fascinated with digital health-related sex, and has put together a special report on the topic. Titled “Welcome to your future sex life: Birds do it, bees do it, robots do it“, the report — described as “Turned On” — explores the intersection of technology and sex. One company featured is San Diego-based AI-sex doll maker Abyss Creations, known for its Real Doll.

In a fascinating and sometimes hilarious article about the experiences and stories heard by a reporter working as a butler at NYC’s Plaza Hotel, it was interesting to discover that the hotel’s guest relations department uses social media to research every one of its guests. LinkedIn topped the list of sites used by the hotel’s staff to better understand and meet the needs of their guests.

Are your neighbors being noisy at 3am or do you want to ensure that your Airbnb renters or rental tenants aren’t having loud parties? NoiseAware offers a system that can track nuisance noise in apartments and other building. The system does not track the content of the sound (e.g. conversations), but is capable of alerting landlords with a text message when noise volumes and/or trends exceed a certain threshold.

HEALTHCARE

In what I hope is a rhetorical question, NPR published an article titled ” You Can Order a Dozen STD Tests Online — But Should You?“. Obviously the answer is yes. It overcomes issues in testing, including stigma and inconvenience.

According to a new health benefits survey report by The National Business Group on Health, 56% of employers plan to offer telehealth for behavioral health services as a covered benefit in 2018. This is more than double the percentage this year.

RESEARCH AND INNOVATION

Researchers at the University of California San Diego — in collaboration with CARI Therapeutics of the University’s Qualcomm Institute Innovation Space — are developing a biosensor to detect the presence of opioids in patients in recovery. The research received a funding boost of $235,000 from the NIH’s National Institute of Drug Abuse’s Small Technology Transfer Innovation Research.

FUNDING

Vivek Ramaswamy’s Roivant Sciences has raised $1.1B to use AI to estimate the chances of success of drugs in clinical trials. Roivant has typically focused on more traditional pharma and biotech ventures, including Arbutus (viral diseases), Axovant (neurology), Myovant (women’s health and endocrine diseases), Dermavant (dermatology), Enzyvant (rare diseases), and Urovant (urology).

GENOMICS

A new study published in the journal Nature takes a look at the characterization of noncoding regulatory DNA in the human genome. As the researchers point out, “genetic variants associated with common diseases are usually located in noncoding parts of the human genome. Delineation of the full repertoire of functional noncoding elements, together with efficient methods for probing their biological roles, is therefore of crucial importance.”

In another example of the potential use of DNA as wearable tech, researchers have created CRISPR skin grafts that trigger the release of insulin and could one day replace insulin shots for diabetes. When tested in mice, the grafts resulted in less weight gain and a reversed resistance to insulin. While not a diabetes cure, this method could provide a safe way for people with diabetes and obesity to better maintain their glucose levels.

FEATURED EVENTS
CNS Summit 2017
Nov 16-19 in Boca Raton, FL

Digital Health World Congress 2017 (Winter Edition)
Nov 29-30 in London, UK,

XPOMET Convention 2018
March 21-23 in Leipzig, Germany

Follow me on Twitter @Paul_Sonnier for all the news I share each day.

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Paul Sonnier
Social Entrepreneur ⋅ Speaker ⋅ Consultant
Contributing Editor, Innovation & Tech Today
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San Diego, CA, USA