Digital Health: Patients at the Centre, Patience to Market

No one can say that we were not told.  In fact, the prediction was announced in the New York Times over a year ago.  Larry Page predicted that if we data mined health data we would probably save 100,000 lives in a year.  It appears that mental health patients will be first in line to test the theory of using data mining to save lives. 

Last week Google announced that it hired Tom Insel, long seated Director of the National Institute of Mental Health.   When asked about what his role will be with Google, Mr. Insel confessed he does not know but is excited for the opportunity to work with Google.   “Mental health is something they’ve (Google) decided will be their next area of focus in the life sciences – they’ve already done exciting work in cancer, heart disease and diabetes. As I said before, I think this technology will have an enormous impact on people with mental illness.”

Forbes Magazine  recently announced that the first digital pill, Proteus, will begin FDA review. “Proteus Digital Health reported on September 9 that the FDA will be reviewing its unique “chip within a pill” device for the depression and schizophrenia medication, Abilify, to hopefully gain approval as the world’s first digital medication.”  Renowned Bioethics scholar Arthur Caplan describes the ethical challenges this week in an editorial Would You Take a Digital Pill?  “Once you swallow the pill, a message can be sent back to whoever is registered to get it — doctor, pharmacist, nurse, probation officer or all of the above. If you aren't taking your psychiatric medicine pill the way you are supposed to, it's possible a whole lot of people will know.” 

While these announcements are distinct it isn’t difficult to see the overlap.  Google turns its incredible data mining power towards mental health, hiring one of the leading Mental Health authorities to, well we don’t know what he is going to do yet but I bet it will be high profile.  In the same week a widely prescribed medication for mental health patients with a digital sensor goes to the FDA for review. 

Saving 100,000 lives is an honourable goal and I applaud the efforts.  But there’s no doubt that it may come at a loss of privacy and patients need to be at the centre of the discussion as we move forward.  We have come a long way from the injustices imposed on individuals like Henrietta Lacks and vulnerable populations of orphans, slaves and homeless persons all in the name of health research.   Health QR is dedicated to never losing sight of their sacrifices as we work to empower health care consumers with access to their personal health information.  Let’s all enter the realm of digital healthcare cautiously.