In May 2019, MIT CSAIL published results from a collaboration with Novartis testing a contactless wireless health monitoring system in clinical trial settings. The MIT CSAIL post describes a year-long collaboration exploring whether the technology could be used to monitor clinical trial patients in their homes.
The system
The technology was developed by Professor Dina Katabi and her students at MIT. It consists of a Wi-Fi-like device that transmits low-powered radio signals and uses machine learning to analyze the reflections, producing physiological metrics from those signals without any contact with the patient.
The post states the device can gather data on patient mobility, gait, breathing, heart rate, sleep stages, sleep apnea, and other metrics without requiring the patient to wear sensors or change their behavior. The intended application is continuous, real-time monitoring of patients in their own homes during clinical trials, which the post describes as a departure from conventional approaches to collecting digital biomarkers.
Trial details
Novartis deployed the technology in a Novartis facility and in a life sciences facility with a living lab equipped for sleep monitoring, motion monitoring, and behavior monitoring. Individuals were studied for multiple days in each setting. Their motion, breathing, sleep, and behavior were measured using the wireless system and compared against existing standards for those measurements.
The post states that comparison to the gold standard showed “the technology has the potential to capture movement and physiological metrics, without being intrusive or requiring changes in people’s behaviors.”
Katabi is quoted in the post: “Innovative machine learning and digital solutions, like ours, promise to change how clinical trial patients are conveniently monitored. Our collaboration with Novartis has demonstrated the potential of our touchless continuous monitoring devices, and we are thrilled about continuing to make a difference in clinical research with our cutting edge digital technology.”
Jay Bradner, President of the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, is also quoted: “This collaboration with Professor Katabi’s team at MIT exemplifies what like-minded academic and industry innovators can achieve in advancing exciting new digital technologies out of the laboratory and onto a path toward possible regulatory acceptance.”
Next steps
The post states that Katabi and Novartis were considering next steps for further examination of the technology at the time of publication. The post does not describe specific follow-up trial plans or a regulatory submission timeline.
Katabi is identified in the post as Director of the MIT Center for Wireless Networks and Mobile Computing. The collaboration was framed as an exploration of whether the technology could move from laboratory to clinical use, with regulatory acceptance described as a possible but not confirmed outcome.