Fitbit plans to initiate a prospective study
with Northwell Health to help validate its algorithm for early
COVID-19 detection
Fitbit (NYSE: FIT) Fitbit announced today it has been selected
by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC)
to receive nearly $2.5 million from the U.S. Department of Defense
through a Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium (MTEC) award to
advance development of a wearable diagnostic capability for the
early detection of a COVID-19 infection. As part of the award,
Fitbit is working to initiate a prospective study with Northwell
Health’s Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research to validate a
Fitbit COVID-19 early detection algorithm.
The award is part of MTEC’s efforts to help keep military
personnel healthy and fully operational. Because carriers of
COVID-19 can be contagious without symptoms, detecting the virus
before symptoms emerge is key to slowing its spread. Fitbit was
selected by USAMRDC based on the Company's track record of
innovation and the initial success of its COVID-19 research,
specifically the role of wearable technology in early illness
detection, as well as the ease of use and long battery life of
Fitbit’s devices.
“We believe Fitbit is uniquely positioned to deliver on
USAMRDC’s goals based on our deep wearables expertise and
established user base of nearly 30 million users, our early
research in machine learning algorithms for detection of
presymptomatic COVID-19, and our production and manufacturing
capabilities to scale solutions and make them available quickly,”
said Amy McDonough, GM and SVP of Fitbit Health Solutions. “Our
research shows that our bodies start to fight the disease before
more visible symptoms appear and we believe Fitbit can reliably
detect these signals, giving us an incredible opportunity to get
ahead of this virus and help alert people that they could be sick
before they unknowingly spread it to others. This award will help
advance this important research.”
In connection with the award, Fitbit is working to initiate a
prospective study with Northwell Health’s Feinstein Institutes for
Medical Research. Northwell Health is the largest healthcare
provider and private employer in New York State. We believe this
collaboration will help expedite the development and validation of
the Fitbit algorithm to detect COVID-19. As part of the prospective
study, the parties plan to distribute several thousand Fitbit
devices to Northwell Health employees, who will receive
notifications of potential illness, as well as COVID-19 testing to
assess and verify the results.
“The combination of Feinstein Institutes’ research expertise,
Northwell’s COVID-19 testing capabilities and Fitbit’s promising
algorithm in development, presents a unique opportunity to
accelerate early detection of COVID-19, particularly for our
frontline health care workers,” said Karina Davidson, PhD, senior
vice president at the Feinstein Institutes. “Based on our
learnings, we aim to work together to advise other large-scale
health systems on this approach to minimizing the spread of
COVID-19.”
This prospective study builds upon Fitbit’s work in COVID-19
research, which includes its collaborative research consortium with
The Scripps Research Institute and Stanford Medicine that launched
earlier this year. As part of that effort, Fitbit is conducting a
retrospective study to determine whether it can develop an
algorithm to detect COVID-19 before symptoms start. To date, the
study has over 187,500 enrolled participants in the U.S. and
Canada, including more than 2,700 confirmed positive cases of
COVID-19. Early findings from that
study show the Fitbit algorithm can detect nearly 50% of COVID-19
cases one day before participants report the onset of symptoms with
70% specificity. This is important because people can transmit the
virus before they realize they have symptoms or when they have no
symptoms at all. This study reinforces that breathing rate, resting
heart rate, and heart rate variability (HRV) are all useful metrics
for indicating onset of illness and are best tracked at night, when
the body is at rest.
“The Department of Defense seeks rapid, accurate wearable
solutions to identify and isolate pre-symptomatic COVID-19 cases
and help track and prevent the spread of the virus. To address this
need, our proposal selection process sought mature solutions that
could be rapidly and widely deployed,” said Commander Christopher
Steele, Director of the Military Operational Medicine Research
Program at USAMRDC. “Wearable technologies, valuable data metrics
and potentially rapid scaling solutions for broad availability,
create ideal conditions for military and industry partnerships in
the consumer wearables space.”
Early detection is critical, and Fitbit hopes to bring wearable
illness detection capabilities to its users as soon as possible.
Fitbit will engage with the appropriate regulators to determine the
best path forward to bring these features to market.
About Fitbit, Inc. (NYSE: FIT)
Fitbit helps people lead healthier, more active lives by
empowering them with data, inspiration and guidance to reach their
goals. Fitbit designs products and experiences that track and
provide motivation for everyday health and fitness. Fitbit’s
diverse line of innovative and popular products include Fitbit
Sense™, the Fitbit Versa™ family of smartwatches, Fitbit Charge 4™,
Fitbit Inspire 2™, and Fitbit Ace 2™ activity trackers, and Fitbit
Aria Air smart scale. Fitbit products are carried in approximately
39,000 retail stores and in 100+ countries around the globe. The
Fitbit platform delivers personalized experiences, insights and
guidance through leading software and interactive tools, including
the Fitbit and Fitbit Coach apps, and Fitbit OS for smartwatches.
Fitbit’s paid subscription service, Fitbit Premium™, provides
advanced analytics and actionable guidance in the Fitbit app to
help you reach your health and fitness goals. Fitbit Premium +
Health Coaching provides one-on-one virtual coaching with expert
health coaches and personalized plans based on your Fitbit data.
Fitbit Health Solutions develops health and wellness solutions
designed to help increase engagement, improve health outcomes, and
drive a positive return for employers, health plans and health
systems. Fitbit and the Fitbit logo are trademarks or registered
trademarks of Fitbit, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries.
Additional Fitbit trademarks can be found
www.fitbit.com/legal/trademark-list. Third-party trademarks are the
property of their respective owners.
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from you, share your Fitbit experience with us here.
About US Army Medical Research and Development
Command
The U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command is the
Army's medical materiel developer, with responsibility for medical
research, development, and acquisition. USAMRDC produces medical
solutions for the battlefield with a focus on various areas of
biomedical research, including military infectious diseases, combat
casualty care, military operational medicine, medical chemical and
biological defense, and clinical and rehabilitative medicine.
About Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium
MTEC is a biomedical technology consortium collaborating with
multiple government agencies under a 10-year renewable Other
Transactional Agreement with the U.S. Army Medical Research and
Development Command. To find out more about MTEC, visit
www.mtec-sc.org.
About Northwell Health
Northwell Health is New York State’s largest health care
provider and private employer, with 23 hospitals, nearly 800
outpatient facilities and more than 14,200 affiliated physicians.
We care for over two million people annually in the New York metro
area and beyond, thanks to philanthropic support from our
communities. Our 74,000 employees – 18,500 nurses and 4,500
employed doctors, including members of Northwell Health Physician
Partners – are working to change health care for the better. We’re
making breakthroughs in medicine at the Feinstein Institutes for
Medical Research. We're training the next generation of medical
professionals at the visionary Donald and Barbara Zucker School of
Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and the Hofstra Northwell School of
Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies. For information on our
more than 100 medical specialties, visit Northwell.edu and follow
us @NorthwellHealth on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and
LinkedIn.
About the Feinstein Institutes
The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research is the research
arm of Northwell Health, the largest health care provider and
private employer in New York State. Home to 50 research labs, 3,000
clinical research studies and 5,000 researchers and staff, the
Feinstein Institutes raises the standard of medical innovation
through its five institutes of behavioral science, bioelectronic
medicine, cancer, health innovations and outcomes, and molecular
medicine. We make breakthroughs in genetics, oncology, brain
research, mental health, autoimmunity, and are the global
scientific leader in bioelectronic medicine – a new field of
science that has the potential to revolutionize medicine. For more
information about how we produce knowledge to cure disease, visit
http://feinstein.northwell.edu and follow us on LinkedIn.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, within
the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995, that involve risks and uncertainties
including, among other things, statements about the future
availability of wearable early illness detection and/or diagnostic
capabilities; production and manufacturing capabilities; expected
results of any trials conducted; performance and/or benefits of
products or services described in this release, including but not
limited to ability to track and prevent spread of illness; and our
ability to help users manage or improve their health and
wellness.
These forward-looking statements are only predictions and may
differ materially from actual results due to a variety of factors,
including the effects of the highly competitive market in which we
operate, including competition from much larger technology
companies; any inability to successfully develop and introduce new
products, features, and services or enhance existing products and
services; product liability issues, security breaches or other
defects; the impact of COVID-19; and other factors discussed under
the heading “Risk Factors” in our most recent report on Form 10-Q
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All
forward-looking statements contained herein are based on
information available to us as of the date hereof and we do not
assume any obligation to update these statements as a result of new
information or future events.
The views expressed in this news release/article are those of
the authors and may not reflect the official policy or position of
the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S.
Government.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201029005281/en/
Jen Ralls, (415) 722-6937 PR@fitbit.com
Fitbit (NYSE:FIT)
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