Qualcomm, Roche Ink Remote Patient Monitoring Partnership
By Jof Enriquez,
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Roche and Qualcomm subsidiary Qualcomm Life recently announced an agreement to collaborate on remote patient monitoring applications using medical devices. The partnership aims to leverage connected therapy to improve the management of chronic diseases, increase patient engagement, and bring down healthcare-related costs.
According to a joint statement, Roche will use Qualcomm Life’s 2net Platform to capture and transmit health data from medical devices to Roche’s cloud-based back-end services. The 2net Platform is a wireless solution that enables the secure and seamless transfer of data between devices. The two companies initially plan to utilize 2net on anti-coagulation meters.
“This collaboration marks a significant milestone for Roche as we launch a new generation of point-of-care solutions that enable healthcare professionals to better keep in touch remotely with patients, whenever and wherever they are,” says Jeremy Moss, SVP, Point of Care at Roche Professional Diagnostics, in the statement.
“By combining Qualcomm Life’s leadership in powering connected health solutions with our point-of-care expertise, we are taking an important step forward to realize our connected care strategy; ultimately enabling physicians to improve the overall quality of life for patients,” Moss continued.
Qualcomm Life recently announced a similar “connected health” partnerships with pharmacy chain Walgreens and drugmaker Novartis. Under those deals, patients and providers can sync various medical devices and share health information using Qualcomm Life’s 2net Platform. Likewise, the goal is for patients to become more engaged with co-managing chronic conditions with their doctors so that healthcare costs related to hospital readmissions are kept to a minimum.
“We are thrilled to be working with a global industry leader in diagnostics and excited by the positive impact our collaboration with Roche can have on patient empowerment at the point-of-care,” Rick Valencia, SVP and GM, Qualcomm Life, said in the statement. “Together, Roche and Qualcomm Life are committed to providing tools to patients and their physicians and caregivers that empower greater coordination to improve patient health.”
Roche has bolstered its diagnostics portfolio in recent months through acquisitions. Last month, it bought a $1 billion majority stake in Foundation Medicine Inc. (FMI), a developer of genomic tests that can be used to detect cancer. Roche also acquired molecular diagnostics firm Ariosa Diagnostics in December. Ariosa has created prenatal tests to diagnose genetic abnormalities such as Down syndrome.