|06.04.20| BARDA, Gates Foundation back Evidation Health's development of COVID-19 detection algorithm; Samsung develops handwashing app

This morning real-world behavioral data analysis company Evidation Health announced a research initiative that will analyze behavior and symptom data to develop an early warning algorithm for COVID-19.

Funded by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the effort will work with 4YouandMe – a nonprofit that helps individuals share their health data for medical research – to collect self-reported and wearable-collected data from 300 participants. This study group will be made up of healthcare workers, first responders and other individuals at high risk of coronavirus infection.

WHAT'S THE IMPACT?

The San Mateo company's platform is designed to help partners analyze and process sensor and behavior data at scale, which it is capable of collecting from more than 100 different data sources.

By applying these capabilities to COVID-19, the partners hope to drive new insights into the disease, chief among which are susceptibility to the disease and early warning signs of an infection. Further, applying those findings to a software algorithm that is accessible to individuals could help them manage their own condition or prevent it from spreading to others.

“The ability to self-monitor and be informed of health status will empower Americans in their decisions to help slow the spread of this pandemic and improve health outcomes for people with COVID-19,” BARDA Acting Director Gary Disbrow said in a statement. “This pilot study is not only an early step in demonstrating the utility of models developed using person-generated health data, but also may provide data to better understand the varied symptoms of COVID-19.”

THE LARGER TREND

Evidation has been fueling a number of big-name studies of late, with a long list of partners that includes Apple, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly, Tidepool, and others. But the collaboration announced today also builds on a digital consumer-survey on COVID-19 concerns and behaviors that the company has been running since mid-March, which it says has now swelled to more than 150,000 participants.

Still, this is far from the only research project looking to wearables data for COVID-19 insights. Fitbit kicked off its own early-detection study a few weeks ago with the similar end goal of early-detection-algorithm development. And in late March both the Scripps Research Translational Institute and UC San Francisco pulled back the curtain on research that uses wearables to identify early patterns of various viral infections.

ON THE RECORD

“Many infected individuals are asymptomatic but still able to spread the virus, making efforts to prevent and slow transmission of COVID-19 difficult,” Luca Foschini, cofounder and chief data scientist at Evidation, said in a statement. “This initiative will use novel behavioral and physiological data to more effectively identify when and where people may contract COVID-19, and can potentially enable real-time interventions to limit spread and monitor outcomes.”

This morning Sharecare, a digital health engagement platform, scooped up tech-enabled behavioral health platform MindSciences for an undisclosed sum.

As part of this acquisition, MindSciences programs will be available to Sharecare’s enterprise partners and consumers. Currently its offerings are split into three programs: Craving to Quit, a smoking cessation-based program; Eat Right Now, a program focused on binge eating and weight loss; and Unwinding Anxiety, developed to help stress and anxiety.

All three of the programs were developed to help clients understand how their brain works and the ways that habits are created, in order to curb unwanted behaviors.

The two have a history of teaming up. In February, Sharecare integrated MindSciences’ smoking cessation app into its platform. As part of this news now all three offerings will be integrated.

WHY IT MATTERS

Sharecare is positioning this new offering as a way to address the unhealthy behaviors and anxieties that may have cropped up during the coronavirus epidemic.

“As levels of worry and unhealthy behavior skyrocketed across the country in April, behavioral health and remote patient monitoring have become increasingly critical, particularly as employers across the country prepare to return to work,” Jeff Arnold, founder, chairman and CEO of Sharecare, said in a statement. “In the wake of COVID-19 in particular, our acquisition of MindSciences is a major step forward in optimizing the Sharecare platform to help our partners navigate the next phase of the pandemic while empowering their people to overcome habits they may have developed to cope, reclaim their well-being and build resilience for the future.”

However, anxiety, eating disorders and smoking cessation were all public health issues before the coronavirus. Some of the issues are also interconnected. According to the American Psychological Association, before the pandemic, 38% of American adults reported having overeaten or having consumed unhealthy foods within a previous month because of stress, and around half of those reported having done so more than once a week.

THE LARGER TREND

This is hardly Sharecare’s first digital health M&A. In February it bought Visualize Health , a population health and quality-measurement platform that helps providers catch any gaps in patient care.

Sharecare was cofounded by TV personality Dr. Mehmet Oz in 2010, and has had a history of buying fellow digital health companies. Its other purchases include virtual reality company BioLucid and Healthway’s population health business.

Over the last decade the company has been actively seeking deals. In 2019, the state of Georgia tapped Sharecare and Walmart in a new initiative to improve the health of the employees on its State Health Benefit Plan (SHBP).