Withings wants to become the leading provider of smart health data

“We had been preparing for this health shift for several years and three or four years ago we already had medical products such as a blood pressure monitoring or a thermometer. But we expected this shift to be easier to carry in Europe and in France, but it arrived in the United States more quickly, “observed Mathieu Letombe.

“A year and a half ago, when Withings returned to France, we decided to pivot on two levels: by exclusively developing medical products and by creating a company section dedicated to health data to become the leading supplier of data to manufacturers, especially in the United States, “he said.

At CES 2019, Withings presented its latest smart health connected blood pressure monitoring as well as a watch capable of recording an electrocardiogram (ECG), already meeting the ambition of the company of focus on preventive medicine.

The 2020 edition of the tech high mass continues on this path. This year, the company came to Las Vegas with the bag full of innovations.

Announced last October, its “B to B” division (business to business) and its Withings Med Pro Data and Withings Med Pro Care solutions for healthcare professionals were officially presented to CES visitors.

Designed to improve remote monitoring of individuals, through the use of products from the Withings ecosystem and the analysis of data collected, directly within the partner environment, these solutions are “tailor-made”.

Withings Med Pro Data enables third-party companies, such as coaching (for example those developed by healthcare establishments), research institutes and manufacturers, to use Withings products to collect, analyze and retransmit patient data within their own environment, website or mobile application.

“This solution should allow us to become the leading supplier of industrial health data,” underlined Mathieu Letombe.

To achieve this, Withings works has identified several “verticals”, or areas of development. Across the Atlantic, it is positioned on healthcare programs implemented by the authorities in order to make savings on health expenditure thanks to data, in particular on chronic diseases (diabetes, hypertension, etc.) which affect 50% of the population in the United States.

“We are working on diabetes prevention programs with our products, and Med Pro Data constitutes a set of solutions which allows our partners to directly integrate the solution into their IT infrastructure to configure the smart health smart health connected object themselves and allow continuous transcription of patient data, “said the general manager.

It also seeks reimbursement by American insurers. “In the United States, the government is pushing insurers to start reimbursing smart health connected medical products because their simple use already improves the health of their users and because the use of these tools makes it possible to detect illnesses upstream”, noted Mathieu Letombe.

The French company also offers its services to pharmaceutical groups and contract research companies (CRO).

This involves strengthening the monitoring of patients involved in clinical studies “from their health home, without sending them to a doctor every week to monitoring their vital parameters”, by equipping the patients concerned with Withings smart health connected products.

It also “improves the ability of pharmaceutical and CRO groups to track their patient cohorts remotely and instantly, and increases patient adherence and engagement,” said Mathieu Letombe.

“We already have contracts signed for each of these verticals,” he added without revealing names for the time being.

The Withings Med Pro Care solution is a remote monitoring platform that allows doctors, medical establishments and research institutes to easily access and manage the physiological data of several patients.

Customizable, the solution allows professional users to choose for themselves the vital parameters on which they wish to program alerts and manage the reminders to be received for each patient. It also allows healthcare teams to share notes on their patients and to share the actions to be undertaken, via a specific module.

Patients can receive messages directly from their doctors, be alerted for taking and sharing measurements and receive advice on their treatment.

“This solution should make it possible to streamline patient monitoring and give added value to office appointments which will be accompanied by data,” detailed the general director of Withings.

The Med Pro Care solution was launched in the United States in early January and will be available in Europe “during March”.

For this 2020 edition of CES, Withings also launched two new products, still linked to health.

The first, the ScanWatch, is a smart health connected watch with health features, competing directly with the Apple Watch Series 5.

“It is an evolution of our flagship product, the Steel HR, but it goes further. It is the healthiest possible product that we can wear on the wrist. It contains all the messaging, applications, etc. functionalities. and a 30-day battery, unlike what the competition does today, “said Mathieu Letombe.

“In terms of medical applications, the ScanWatch has sensors that can track arrhythmia and detect tachycardia and bradycardia, but it can also measure atrial fibrillation and sleep apnea, thanks to an oxygen level sensor in blood, “he also detailed.

To get the ScanWatch, you have to pay between 249 and 279 euros, depending on the dial model chosen (38 mm or 42 mm).

Another smart health connected health product presented at CES, the new Withings Sleep sensor “to monitoring sleep and detect sleep apnea using a non-intrusive device”, available at a price of 99.95 euros.

Concretely, it is a thin sensor that slides under the mattress and remains absolutely invisible and non-intrusive for the user. After a first installation, the device automatically transmits in the Health Mate app a detailed view of sleep cycles, changes in heart rate and snoring.

The Health Mate app classifies these respiratory disturbances from low to high intensity and provides a vision over several months allowing users to view these events and take necessary medical measures, if necessary.

In France, the French company is continuing to refocus on health and “is already working with health insurance and several health players, including hospitals”, to deploy its products in the medical fields.