Partnership to use personal fitness device data on Parkinson's

The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) and Intel Corporation are partnering to gather and analyze data from wrist-worn devices on people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) with the goal of helping individuals and their doctors better manage disease and progress research toward better treatments and a cure.

As Michael J. Fox told USA Today, "The answers are within us. We just need to find a way to let people into our brains both literally and figuratively to help us figure this out."

MJFF’s partnership with Intel began earlier this year, with the launch of a study to evaluate three wearable devices for tracking measurable features of Parkinson’s like slowness and frequency of movement, according to a release.

Participants with and without PD wore the devices during two clinic visits and at home over a few days. Intel engineers are now comparing the device data to clinical observations and patient diaries to test the devices’ accuracy, and are developing algorithms to measure symptoms and disease progression. Wearable devices can capture up to 300 observations per second.

Researchers who monitor disease and clinical trials also could use wearable devices and data algorithms for a clearer picture of a new therapy’s effect.

In addition to its use in personal disease management and in separate research studies, wearable device data could lead to new areas of research. Intel has developed a data platform that could store de-identified device data from millions of people with Parkinson’s.

“Data science and wearable computing hold the potential to transform our ability to capture and objectively measure patients’ actual experience of disease, with unprecedented implications for Parkinson’s drug development, diagnosis and treatment,” said MJFF CEO Todd Sherer, PhD.

The next phase of the MJFF-Intel study will be to capture data to measure medication response such as on/off episodes. Recruitment is expected to begin this fall.