The U.S Defense Department has selected Royal Philips (NYSE:PHG) and BioIntelliSense to receive nearly $2.8 million.
Amsterdam-based Philips (which has its U.S. base in Cambridge, Mass.) was selected by the DoD through a Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium (MTEC) award to validate BioIntelliSense’s FDA-cleared BioSticker device for the early detection of COVID-19 symptoms, according to a news release.
DoD designed its financial award to accelerate the use of wearable diagnostics for the benefit of military and public health through early identification and containment for pre-symptomatic COVID-19 cases, Philips said.
In collaboration with the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, there will be a clinical study of 2,500 eligible participants with a recent, known COVID-19 exposure and/or a person experiencing early COVID-19 symptoms, with a focus on the validation of BioIntelliSense’s BioSticker.
BioSticker enables continuous multi-parameter vital signs monitoring for 30 days and captures data across a range of vital signs, physiological biometrics and symptomatic events, including those related to COVID-19.
The system integrates into Philips’ remote patient monitoring offerings to provide cloud-based data collection across multiple settings, too.
“Key industry and academic partnerships provide DoD a timely opportunity to field medical-grade wearables capable of high-frequency physiologic surveillance,” stated Commander Christopher Steele, Director of the Military Operational Medicine Research Program at USAMRDC. “Our goals are to capitalize on mature, wearable tech and validate predictive algorithms to identify COVID-19 positive individuals that have yet to show clear medical symptoms. Outputs can directly maximize military preparedness and provide immediate benefit for the general population as these tools can be used outside of medical treatment facilities.”
“The medical-grade BioSticker wearable, combined with advanced diagnostic algorithms, may serve as the basis for identifying pre- and very early symptomatic COVID-19 cases, allow for earlier treatment for infected individuals, as well as reduce the spread of the virus to others,” BioIntelliSense founder & CEO Dr. James Mault said in the release.
“To turn the tide on COVID-19, the public and private sectors need to use every available tool in their arsenal, which includes looking at new ways of how we can create solutions for early disease detection,” added Philips North America chief market leader Vitor Rocha. “No one organization will be able to combat COVID-19 alone, but working together, we hope to develop a solution that will allow people to understand if they are in the early stages of illness, and take the appropriate actions to help limit spread and get the treatment they need.
“This could help give people confidence in getting back to school, work, travel, or just coming together as a family.”