Now in its sixth year, the Digital Health Summit has grown from a subset of the International Consumer Electronics Show (or just CES) to a draw all its own. In fact, at this year’s conference, held at the Venetian Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, organizers had to make a last-minute ballroom change to accommodate a surge in registrations. And the summit blew up on social media with more than 43 million Twitter impressions.
On the exhibition floor, attendees were treated to previews of technologies that are innovating healthcare and fitness, including smart pacifiers (Pacif-i), wearables focused on your state of mind (Thync and Melomind), and even a chair that works out your muscles by just sitting in it (TAO Chair).
Meanwhile, the conference sessions focused on a wide range of topics from how data is changing healthcare to reinventing the doctor-patient relationship. The pharma industry also made its presence known. During a session titled, “Pharma Gets Techie and Everyone Scores,” Corinne Savill, Head Business Development and Licensing at Novartis, said “We have to go beyond selling pills, and sell outcomes.”
That idea was also discussed among a panel of speakers, including Nirav ‘Rav’ Sheth of MC10 Inc.; Michael Cantor, MD, JD, of New England Quality Care Alliance; and Dr. James Zackheim, PhD, of UCB, Inc., as they reviewed the potential benefits of partnerships between pharma and wearable tech companies during the session “Drugwear: Pharma Rises Beyond the Pill.”
Presentations also included innovative health tech that could revolutionize the industry. Elli Kaplan, CEO of Neurotrack, provided one such example as her company is working on highly accurate and noninvasive diagnostic technology for Alzheimer’s disease.
