Biospectal, the remote patient monitoring and biosensing software company, announced the public beta launch of Biospectal OptiBP for Android as part of the SWISS Pavilion at the all-digital 2021 Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
Backed by grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges Canada and Innosuisse, Biospectal OptiBP empowers people worldwide with a medical-grade device that integrates directly into the ubiquitous smartphone already in their pocket, enabling instantaneous blood pressure measurement and monitoring, anytime and anywhere. View a short video of how Biospectal OptiBP works here.
According to the CDC, hypertension affects nearly 46% or 100M US adults, while the World Health Organization estimates 1.13Bn people worldwide have hypertension. Dubbed the “silent killer,” only one in five people afflicted with hypertension have control over the condition. People need an easy to use, digital means to accurately measure, monitor, track and share their blood pressure data with their doctors; a need that the onset of COVID-19 and demand for telehealth solutions has only amplified.
“Democratising and providing easy access to blood pressure monitoring to people worldwide enables improved treatment and impacts medical outcomes. Biospectal OptiBP is a prime example of a broader transition toward remote patient monitoring that moves the clinical functions and capability out of the professional setting to the ‘point of patient’ where they live,” says Eliott Jones, CEO of Biospectal.
“Biospectal’s patented OptiBP technology replaces the antiquated traditional blood pressure cuff and provides medical-grade blood pressure measurement and management at the ‘point of patient’ in the time it takes to download an app without the need for yet another wearable device or additional bulky hardware. Health-conscious consumers and hypertensive patients worldwide can now contribute to, and be involved in their health outcomes in a way that hasn’t existed previously.”
How Biospectal optiBP works.
The Biospectal OptiBP app runs on a typical smartphone and uses the built-in camera to record and measure a user’s blood flow via their fingertip quickly and easily. A measurement is rendered in approximately 20 seconds half the time of a typical blood pressure cuff.
Biospectal’s proprietary algorithms and optical signal capture methods then transform the captured data into blood pressure values. With Biospectal’s software solutions, anyone in the world with a smartphone can turn their device into a connected, smart, clinical-grade monitor in the time it takes to download and install an app.
Additionally, the captured blood pressure data connects seamlessly with a user’s clinicians to support treatment regimens that help improve health, longevity and quality of life. Key benefits include:
- Connected remote patient monitoring shortens the pathway from measurement to action in a clinical regimen;
- Ease of use with an existing, ubiquitous device the smartphone removes adherence barriers;
- Allows users to measure and monitor their blood pressure in their ‘natural’ environment, which is ideally where blood pressure should be monitored;
- App form factor offers continuous product improvement and feature updates; and
- Unprecedented data insights via global device network drives higher value for drug development and lower insurance costs.
A recent large-scale, third-party clinical research study published by Scientific Reports in Nature validated the ability of the Biospectal OptiBP smartphone app to accurately measure blood pressure utilising transdermal optical sensing and a smartphone camera lens. No other blood pressure monitoring and management device on the market offers both the medical-grade accuracy and convenience of Biospectal.
“For low and middle-income countries around the globe, this type of technology is a game changer in the fight against non-communicable diseases, dominated by hypertension and cardiovascular disease,” says Prof. Alain Labrique, director of the Johns Hopkins Global mHealth Initiative and associate chair for Research. “For the billions of people living in remote, rural communities, having access to accurate blood pressure readings will enable early diagnosis and hopefully, treatment preventing illness and loss of life.”
Biospectal trained its software algorithm using over two million resulting invasively acquired blood pressure samples recorded in the operating room of the CHUV in partnership with the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM), and then validated it with outpatients in the hypertension clinic CHUV. The company’s patented technology represents 10+ years of non-invasive optical biosensing R&D led by Biospectal chief medical advisor, Dr. Patrick Schoettker, M.D..
The Biospectal OptiBP for Android public beta is available now in the US, UK, France, Germany, Spain and Switzerland. Interested participants can register for the public beta here or sign up to be notified once Biospectal OptiBP becomes available in their country. Contact biospectal@wearemgp.com to set up a meeting at CES, January 11 – 14, 2021 or access the press kit here.
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