Imagine a treatment for sort two polygenic disease that needs neither surgery, medication nor calorie restriction, however rather depends on adherence to a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet, tracked by regular finger-stick checks of blood chemistry, and guided remotely by a team of physicians, coaches, and algorithms?
That’s the premise of Virta Health, a San Francisco-based digital health company shaped in 2014 and launched formally nowadays, with $37M within the bank from investors together with Dr. Henry M. Robert Kocher of Venrock. The kickoff follows Tuesday’s publication of the results of associate uncontrolled clinical study of many hundred patients in IN, World Health Organization are treated associated followed for 2 years; the just-published information -- an interim report of types -- represent the primary ten weeks of study, sponsored by Virta.
(Disclosure: i'm Chief medical man of a genetics information management company, DNAnexus, and don't have a private, skilled, or monetary relationship with Virta Health; I trained in medical specialty and have antecedently written regarding therapeutic approaches to polygenic disease, together with surgery and hindrance.)
The number of patients with A1c levels below half-dozen.5% (a live of diabetic control) hyperbolic from 52/262 once the study began to 147/262 once ten weeks. the bulk of patients had one or a lot of polygenic disease medications reduced or eliminated by the tip of the study, and also the average patient lost seven.2% of his or her beginning weight. ninetieth of patients World Health Organization started the study remained registered once 10 weeks. Finally, the typical beta-hydroxybutyrate level (a live of degree of dietary supermolecule reduction) was zero.6 mMol/L, “indicating consistent supermolecule restriction” per the authors.
Tech+Health=Hard
The idea of applying rising technology to stubborn health challenges, like polygenic disease, has long captivated and regularly annoyed entrepreneurs and investors. whereas it appears blindingly obvious that technology have to be compelled to represent a game-changing chance for aid, working out the way to try this has evidenced remarkably troublesome -- not solely as a result of it’s onerous to disrupt entrenched incumbents, however additionally as a result of unwellness is mussy, individuals area unit difficult, and achieving sturdy changes in health turns to be much more difficult than persuading users to click on a poster.
One company that appears to possess puzzled out a path through the copse is Omada Health, that uses remote coaching job to guide pre-diabetic patients through a preventive approach originally incontestible by NIH-sponsored investigators, and currently tailored and scaled by Omada to use to populations – see this 2012 post I wrote regarding Omada in its period.
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