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Globally the prevalence of chronic diseases or noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, mental disorders and chronic respiratory diseases, and the associated deaths due to them, is rising. In 2021, an estimated 43 million deaths globally were due to noncommunicable diseases which is expected to rise to 77 million - a staggering rise of 80 per cent by the year 2050.
Noncommunicable diseases disproportionately affects people in low- and middle-income countries such as India, with 63 per cent of the deaths reported in the country due to chronic conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, cancer and diabetes.
Conventional clinical diagnosis for chronic diseases is performed with bulky equipment or multi-reagent kits at centralized laboratories. Patient samples are transported to laboratories for analysis, and the long turnaround time for results may affect patient adherence. The delay in intervention can also affect the clinical outcome, as the patient’s health condition can change over time. The bulky equipment and the need for trained personnel limit the accessibility of the diagnostic test for patients in resource-limited regions.
Furthermore, therapies such as conventional neuromodulation and neurostimulation techniques used for managing chronic conditions, including pain and mental disorders, are currently performed in clinical settings such as clinics, which can make it challenging for elderly patients and those with mobility issues to adhere to the treatment regimen due to the need for frequent in-clinic visits. This can negatively impact patient compliance with the therapies, which in turn affect clinical outcomes.
To overcome the limitations of conventional diagnostic methods and therapies, StickTronics - or wearable bioelectronic skin patches are emerging as an effective alternative that can be used for diagnostics and neurostimulation/neuromodulation-based therapeutics for chronic disease management. Integrated with embedded electronics, advanced sensors, and fluidic systems, StickTronics have various medical applications. These include detecting and monitoring cardiovascular diseases, metabolic and neurological disorders, hydration levels, and infections in the patients, as well as operating as electrotherapy for musculoskeletal injuries, chronic pain, and blood circulation disorders. StickTronics, the next generation of wearables technology, are more discreet and less intrusive than traditional wearable devices. Their skin compliance ensures accurate data collection and/or targeted therapy delivery, which can reduce hospitalization and the healthcare cost burden. Therefore, they can disrupt the current standard of care in several sectors. Key players are improving the devices’ battery efficiency, wear time to lower solution costs, and flexibility and conformability to make them more skin-friendly and comfortable.
StickTronics as tools for diagnostics and therapeutics
Diagnostic wearable StickTronics patches are skin-interfaced microfluidic systems comprising flexible microfluidic components, such as an adhesive patch, microchannels or microneedles, sensors, electronics, and wireless communication. These patches can be applied to the skin to sample sweat, interstitial fluid or other biofluids painlessly, and monitor specific vital signs, analytes and biomarkers, including heart rate, skin temperature, respiration rate, glucose, ketones, proteins, lactate, metabolites, therapeutic drugs, alcohol, electrolytes and inflammatory markers-continuously in real time.
The ability of these diagnostic devices to track vital health data has driven their adoption in application areas such as monitoring and diagnosis of acute cardiovascular events, tracking therapeutic drugs, diabetes management, alcohol and substance use, as well as detection of respiratory conditions, and infections.
For instance, India-based Ultrahuman has developed a M1 patch for continuous glucose monitoring in the users and can subsequently offer actionable insights to help improve metabolic health. Australia-based Nutromics has developed Nutromics patch, which has microneedles for interstitial fluid sample collection and multiple DNA sensors that track the therapeutic range of Vancomycin drug for improving the antibiotic’s efficacy and minimizing toxic overdoses in patients.
Therapeutics
Enabled by new design and fabrication technologies, flexible materials, and lightweight batteries, these electrotherapeutic skin patches deliver electrical stimulation to target organs or tissues with high body compatibility and user comfort. Electrotherapeutic StickTronics devices comprise stretchable/conformable electrode sets, conductive layers, a controller, a skin-friendly adhesive, and a power source that are easy to use, and comfortable for users.
These devices deliver site-specific targeted therapy that minimizes injury to surrounding tissues or burden on irrelevant organs. Furthermore, the users can easily adjust the electrical stimulation strength and patterns to enable optimal health outcomes.
The devices utilize neuromodulation methods such as transcranial direct current stimulation and peripheral nerve stimulation to selectively activate certain brain regions and nerve pathways. This helps manage psychiatric symptoms, relieve pain and enhance cognitive abilities in patients. They also include sensors that detect harmful nerve signals and, using AI-based algorithms, provide personalized and adaptive stimulation tailored to individual patient requirements.
For example, in January 2023, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories partnered with Israel-based Theranica for exclusive marketing and distribution of the latter’s US FDA-approved Nerivio device in India. The device utilizes remote electrical neuromodulation to trigger an endogenous descending pain inhibition mechanism known as conditioned pain modulation, which aborts or alleviates migraine headache and associated migraine.
Batteries in StickTronic devices need replacements or regular recharging, disrupting data collection. Hence, there is a need to explore battery-free and self-powered wearable electronic patch solutions powered by sweat, body heat, or solar power. Leading players can adopt these technologies to enable long-term monitoring and therapy products.
There is a need to gradually shift from the current single-sensor-per-device approach towards the development of StickTronic devices that incorporate multiple sensors of different modes, such as electrochemical sensing, electrophysiology sensing, and nutrition monitoring, on a single platform that can enable the measurement of multiple health parameters simultaneously. The use of these devices can provide a comprehensive assessment of a broad range of vital signs, analytes and biomarkers in patients enabling effective monitoring and diagnosis of different diseases through a single platform.
The development of StickTronic devices that integrate sensors and therapy delivery components, by amalgamating diagnostic wearable electronic patches and electrotherapeutic skin patches to offer nanotheranostic platforms, should also be considered. These devices would be able to offer optimized therapy based on measured health signals, thus facilitating high-impact personalized medicine for diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular conditions, obesity, and cancer.
Conclusion
StickTronics represents a powerful shift in how chronic diseases can be diagnosed and managed - bringing care closer to the patient, reducing reliance on centralized facilities, and enhancing treatment adherence. Their discreet, continuous, and personalized functionality bridges the gap between diagnostics and therapy. As these technologies mature, they hold the potential to redefine patient engagement, lower healthcare costs, and improve clinical outcomes, especially in underserved regions.
(Author is senior industry analyst & team lead, TechVision, Frost & Sullivan)
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