VaGenie Wins the Boston Scientific Connected Patient Challenge

Mar 9, 2020

 

At the fifth annual Boston Scientific Connected Patient Challenge, an open competition to promote the development of meaningful innovation to address complex healthcare challenges, VaGenie accepted the top prize. VaGenie is a connected pelvic floor muscle training solution, which helps women build a stronger pelvic core, prevent disorders and dysfunction and recover more efficiently after childbirth.  

 

“When digital solutions can improve information flow between physicians and patients, those patients are empowered to improve their quality of life,” said Ian Meredith, MD, executive vice president and global chief medical officer at Boston Scientific, during his presentation on empowered patients and the path toward health equity. “When those solutions are accessible and equitable, we have the potential for truly meaningful care transformation.” 

 

The competition, co-sponsored by Google Cloud, aims to accelerate meaningful innovation around a specific theme in connected health each year. This year’s theme asked challengers to apply a digital health concept to help patients and caregivers improve quality of life at home, with a particular focus on individuals living with chronic conditions. Throughout the competition, entrants engaged in an online forum where they received feedback from other life sciences professionals and a panel of industry experts, before the final six contenders were chosen to take part in the live pitch-off event. 

 

This year’s runner-up, Wellthy Therapeutics, is an AI-powered tool focused on behavior and lifestyle changes in the therapeutic areas of diabetes, chronic kidney disease and cardiology. For the first time this year, a $25,000 Spotlight Award was also made available to a Massachusetts-based company, sponsored by the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center. nQ Medical, Inc. received this inaugural award. The company collects digital biomarkers for patients with Parkinson’s disease to help detect subclinical symptoms and include continuous, remote and real-world quantification of psychomotor symptoms. 

 

The additional finalists included:  

  • CardioVisual: Digital Clinical Navigator:  a heart health app that illuminates the patient journey through technology and trusted content to improve heart-health outcomes  

  • Dance4Healing:  an AI-powered telehealth platform which helps patients with chronic diseases build healthy habits at home 

  • EndoQure: offers vital information to endocrinologists to determine a patient’s best treatment pathway and disease management options for patients 

 

Last year’s competition focused on utilizing population health data, patient monitoring  
or predictive analytics to improve care for patients. The winner, Nutrimedy, a  tele-nutrition platform that matches users to dieticians based on their personalized goals, aims to highlight the need for nutrition to play a more significant role in preventive medicine. The company continues to work with Boston Scientific on collaborative research exploring the intersection of diet and heart failure. 

 

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