The Next Big Players in Mobile Health: Apple Watch and Dario

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / May 11, 2015 / The market for mobile health monitoring and diagnostics is projected to reach $8 billion by 2019. Two key players in this market are Apple with its Apple Watch and LabStyle Innovations (OTCQB: DRIO), maker of the Dario Diabetes Management System. This emerging market for small, sleek and often wearable devices that function as mobile healthcare diagnostic devices was estimated at a mere $650 million in 2012. It has been dominated by cardiac monitors that work in conjunction with smart phones. According to Transparency Market Research, the market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 43%, led by growth in the mobile glucose monitoring segment. This is where LabStyle comes in with the Dario.

Although the market may appear to be small for a giant like Apple, the technology innovator may be looking at the wider $3 trillion U.S. healthcare market and strategizing how to serve part of this market through the data that the Apple Watch is now capable of gathering. Diabetes is one disease that is on Apple's list, according VP of Operations, Jeff Williams. Diabetes is one of the largest patient-generated data sets, lending itself to benefit from the potential of mobile health devices.

Apple Watch comes with a heart sensor, accelerometer, and activity monitor, all designed to promote health. Apple is not yet claiming that the Watch will play a part in monitoring, diagnosing, or treating serious diseases, however, the company appears to be making moves in that direction.

On April 14, Apple announced the availability of ResearchKit(TM), a software framework designed for medical and health research that helps doctors, scientists and other researchers gather data more frequently and more accurately from participants using mobile devices. Apps already available on ReserachKit study Parkinson's, diabetes, heart disease and asthma among others. Massachusetts General Hospital, Stanford University, and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute are among the organizations that have played a role in developing these apps. ResearchKit follows Apple's launch last year of HealthKit, a software platform that collects and merges data from different health and fitness apps.

While stand-alone apps for diseases including diabetes exist, LabSytle Innovations' Dario Diabetes Management System is the only one that combines an all-in-one blood glucose meter, smart phone application for Apple and Android devices, and website application with treatment tools to support more proactive and better informed decisions by patients, doctors and healthcare systems. Dario provides patients, caregivers and clinicians both real-time and historic patient data resulting in better patient performance and improved health.

The Dario is about to transform the daily management of diabetes. Further integrating the Dario with the Apple Watch seems to be an obvious opportunity for Apple and LabStyle to gather even more data that can help diabetics better and more independently self-manage the disease. The global blood glucose monitoring market is expected to reach $12 billion by 2017. More self-management may lead to fewer hospital visits and put a dent in the cost of diabetes management in the U.S., which was $245 billion in 2012.

The Dario is currently awaiting FDA approval, expected in 2015. It has already been approved and launched in Europe, the UK, and Australia. According to the International Diabetes Federation, every seven seconds a person dies from diabetes. Technology from companies like Apple and LabStyle may play a role in improving and prolonging the lives of people living with the disease.

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SOURCE: RAY DIRKS Research