The life science world has continued to deepen its interest in the digital space. While the mainstream life science news of the year was research on the coronavirus vaccine, when it came to digital the industries efforts were more varied. We saw new partnerships between pharma and digital health around topics such as respiration health, cardiovascular conditions and real-world data.
This year we...
Pharma giant Roche is adding a new remote-patient-monitoring tool to its Diabetes Care Platform. The new tool is specifically targeted towards patients who require more doctor-patient interactions.
Through it, doctors and care team members can enroll their patients in the remote-monitoring program and then personalize the tool for each patient. Specifically, clinicians can control the length of...
Driving digital diagnosis. Roche and Israeli life sciences investment firm aMoon announced plans this week to launch an early-stage investment program called StarFinder Lab. Focused on novel diagnostic technologies, in particular, with the help of AI data analysis and digital health tools, the program will provide funding, mentoring and other strategic support such as a physical office space...
Pharma giant Roche and its subsidiary Genentech have inked a deal with PicnicHealth, a startup that helps patients access and share their medical records.
The real-world evidence deal will allow the pharmaceutical companies to have access to PicnicHealth’s set of de-identified patient records in order to gain insights about certain diseases and treatments. Patients must first consent to their...
On Apple and patents. A New York University School of Medicine cardiologist is unhappy with Apple Watch’s heart rate irregularity detection feature, which he claims in a new lawsuit infringes his own patent for atrial fibrillation detection technology. Filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York on December 27, 2019, the suit describes Dr. Joseph Wiesel’s invention and his...
Sixth time's the charm? Roche’s Accu-Chek Connect Diabetes Management App has notched its sixth device recall from the FDA, this time due to meter-to-app data transfer issues for users with Android OS 8.0 and above. According to the agency’s posting, Roche notified partners, users and call centers of the issue and released and update addressing the problem before the end of that month.
Prior to...

Screengrab of the Wellthy Therapeutics website.
At the 79th Annual Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association in San Francisco, pharma giant Roche and India-based digital therapeutics company Wellthy Therapeutics presented real world data of improved diabetes care outcomes in a South Asian population when patients followed prescribed plan of medication and lifestyle modification in conjunction with a combination therapy of self-...
Since it was first announced, fans and critics of the FDA’s Pre-Cert program for medical software developers have mused on the benefits and burdens that might come with participation in the experimental program.
What to expect from Pre-Cert
The question has only become more pertinent since the agency released its 1.0 Working Model in January and, just a couple weeks ago, began seeking new De Novo...

Credit: Foundation Medicine
Roche announced last week the launch of FoundationOne CDx, Foundation Medicine’s comprehensive companion diagnostic test for personalised cancer care in Singapore. According to the official media release, FoundationOne CDx supports clinicians in their decision-making by providing a clear, in-depth report that describes the unique genomic profile of a patient’s tumour as well as associated,...
Update: This article has been updated to clarify potentially misleading claims about Novo Nordisk being first to market.
Novo Nordisk has struck a deal with Flex Digital Health, part of the IoT logistics company Flex, formerly known as Flextronics. Novo Nordisk will use Flex's BrightInsight platform, which focuses on managing connectivity and compliance for regulated digital health devices, as it...