Cohen Veterans Bioscience and Early Signal Foundation announce a partnership to advance the use of wearable and home sensors for real-time monitoring of patients with trauma-related and other brain disorders. Early Signal Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on disruptive health solutions for rare disorders and underserved populations, will provide an affordable analytical system to record and integrate behavioral, cognitive, physiological and contextual data.
Real-time, individualized monitoring is central to improving diagnosis and management of neuropsychiatric conditions. Today, the vast majority of patients receive only sporadic treatment and monitoring; it may be too late to provide effective treatment by the time clinicians become aware that a patient’s condition has progressed or relapsed. Wearables and other devices can provide continuous information by allowing patients to track variables such as sleep, physical activity, stress and substance use.
This partnership combines Early Signal’s expertise in machine learning and unstructured data analysis with the implementation and validation capabilities of Cohen Veterans Bioscience.
“We could not think of a better partner than Cohen Veterans Bioscience to develop and optimize our analytical tools,” said Daniela Brunner, PhD, CEO & President of Early Signal Foundation.
An estimated 7.8 percent of Americans experience Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) at some point in their lives. Each year, an estimated 1.4 million people in the United States sustain a brain trauma leading to traumatic brain injury (TBI). Most individuals with trauma-related brain disorders suffer from sleep disturbances like insomnia. The known impacts of insomnia on quality of life, productivity, co-morbidity complication and more, make developing proven interventions a critical unmet need for those experiencing these issues.
The partnership with MyHealios will develop the first combined biosensor/wearables and telehealth platform for these brain disorders with a focus on trauma-associated sleep disorders. MyHealios is an award-winning telehealth services company that provides therapeutic sessions by highly skilled clinicians remotely, one-on-one, in an interactive format using videoconference or over the telephone. The combined platform, called Circady™, will provide telehealth delivery of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) using mobile, wearable and home sensor technologies to drive personalized and precision-driven feedback to the therapist and the patient alike to deliver data-driven improved outcomes.
“Early intervention is critical to preempt disease progression associated with physical or emotional trauma,” said Cohen Veterans Bioscience CEO & President Dr. Magali Haas, MD, PhD. “The ability to track health in a systematic and comprehensive way will allow us to define individual health trajectories and customize treatment. We plan to extend the platform to incorporate an online Portal for direct engagement with patients, their families and caregivers.”
