GLNT integrates video conferencing technology into Kinesia HomeView for Parkinson’s disease patients

Sep 7 2013

Great Lakes NeuroTechnologies (GLNT) announced today they are launching commercialization and clinical studies to expand their telemedicine technology, Kinesia HomeView™ [ http://glneurotech.com/kinesia/homeview/ ], for individuals with Parkinson’s disease by adding real-time video conferencing. The research and development are being funded in part by a $1.2 million Phase II Small Business Innovative Research grant from the National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. The technology is currently under development at GLNT with clinical validation studies planned this fall domestically at The University of Rochester, The University of Toledo, and internationally at Hospital Universitario de Burgos in Spain. As part of development, GLNT is partnering with Vidyo, Inc. [ http://vidyo.com ] to integrate their real-time video conferencing technology into the Kinesia system.

Telemedicine is a growing healthcare market trend to improve patient care and accessibility. There are several types of telemedicine applications including real-time video conferencing, remote monitoring, and store and forward technologies. Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder affecting over six million people worldwide. Individuals with PD can be affected by tremor, slowed movements, rigidity, and gait abnormalities. After chronic use, common therapies to treat motor symptoms often cause a side effect known as dyskinesias, which are involuntary and irregular rapid movements. These daily changes in symptoms and severities, which can be difficult to assess in a short office visit, can be captured by more continuous remote monitoring with patient worn sensors. In addition, a large portion of the Parkinson’s population currently lacks access to expert care if they have mobility issues that limit travel or do not live near specialty centers. Linking patients with movement disorder specialists through web-based systems can improve accessibility. 

GLNT currently provides remote monitoring for Parkinson’s with Kinesia HomeView™. The system includes patient worn motion sensors and broadband integrated tablet which patients use to follow video instructions and complete motor assessments. All data is transmitted remotely to a HIPAA compliant server and clinicians login to a website to view symptom reports. Adding video conferencing will close the loop on clinical workflow by allowing clinicians to then remotely discuss the results with patients and offer recommendations that can improve their quality of life. “The clinical market, regulatory environment, and reimbursement landscape for telemedicine are all rapidly evolving and Parkinson’s disease is uniquely positioned to benefit from telemedicine”, stated Joseph P. Giuffrida, PhD, President and Principal Investigator on this program. “Parkinson’s is an incredibly complex disease, and we are focused on developing remote monitoring technologies with visualization tools that can scale to the needs of patient care. Integrating remote monitoring with real-time video conferencing solves both the challenges of accurately capturing symptom response to treatments and accessibility of care, which are critical to improve quality of life for individuals with Parkinson’s. Commercially, the technology will position GLNT with a complete telemedicine solution for both clinical care and clinical trials markets”.  

Dr. Giuffrida thanks the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities for funding the Phase II NIH SBIR project (R44MD004049).