Casana, a healthcare technology company based in Rochester, New York, is testing a passive telemonitoring device for a toilet seat that collects health data and vital signs. While the patient is sitting on the toilet seat, the company’s “The Heart Seat” collects heart rate, blood oxygen level (SpO2), EKG, cardiac output, and blood pressure. The device will be prescription-only and has not yet been approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration).
With electronic sensors for logging heart rate and blood pressure incorporated directly into the cushion, Casana intends to provide consumers with a regular heart health assessment without intruding on their everyday routine.
“The Heart Seat is different from virtually every other vitals monitoring product, in that it takes no time out of your day and works best when you forget it’s even there”, Casana CEO Austin McChord said.
The startup’s investment takes its overall funding to $46 million while Heart Health Intelligence was developed in 2018 by a postdoctoral researcher at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
Casana began the first research of the Heart Seat last year, using its Smart Integrated Technologies Lab, or SIT Lab, to put the hardware to the test in a controlled environment.
The company now expects to finish clinical testing, receive FDA approval, and begin commercialization before the end of the year.
Casana is also looking for how routinely collecting cardiac data may help health systems and insurers detect early changes in cardiovascular health and intervene to avert problems like high blood pressure.
Another of the company’s business ambitions is to have hospitals hand out the device to patients when they are discharged, so they can scan themselves at home after surgery and avoid readmissions.
“As healthcare moves from the doctor’s office into the home, convenient home monitoring is becoming increasingly important for patient care”, said Jeffrey Leiden, Casana’s chairman of the board, and former CEO of Vertex Pharmaceuticals.
Source fiercebiotech.com
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