Cambridge-based MC10, which makes paper-thin adhesive health sensors, and Belgium-based pharma company UCB have completed the Parkinson's study they began in 2014 and are aiming to publish the results later this year, the two companies announced.
The study used MC10's adhesive sensors to collect movement data on Parkinson's patients, combined with patient-reported outcomes and neurological assessments from clinicians. They collected data on patients both at home and in clinical settings.
"MC10’s core mission of leveraging our unique technology to improve the understanding of human health and wellness is well aligned to UCB’s commitment to patient-centered care,” MC10 CEO Scott Pomerantz said in a statement. “Our collaboration with UCB has allowed us to grow as a company by better understanding the needs of patients and the pharmaceutical industry’s efforts and approaches to meeting their needs.”
Back when the collaboration was announced in 2014, Ben Schlatka, cofounder and vice president of corporate development at MC10, told MobiHealthNews the study would use BioStamp, an iteration of MC10's flexible, stretchable electronics technology that adheres to the patient's skin like a temporary tattoo. The micro-electronics can track things like "motion, things like heart rate, things like muscle potential, those different assessments," Schlatka said, and "once you combine them in a soft, discreet, patient-friendly device that can be affixed to multiple locations across the body, you start to get ... novel physiological insights that are taken out in the real world, not in the clinic."
He also said at the time that they hoped down the road – pending FDA clearance – UCB could make the technology available bundled with a drug or therapy, giving patients and doctors access to the data from BioStamp. Having the technology in the hands of doctors could allow pharma companies to develop more personalized therapies.
“Completion of this study is a testament to UCB’s mission to foster innovation to help the millions of people living with chronic neurodegenerative disease," Erik Janssen, VP of Global New Patient Solutions in Neurology at UCB, said in a statement. "UCB is focused on improving understanding about patent experiences, and evolving these insights to improve the management of neurological conditions – providing patients with better control and allowing them to improve treatment outcomes. In combination with our own clinical and development teams, MC10’s innovative solutions shaped the study at both a hardware and software level. We hope these results, once disseminated, will influence the broader community’s thinking about the place of novel technologies in patient care.”
