Google has a group dedicated to life sciences, and it has recently been working on wristband device that's all about health tracking. But the wristband won't be marketed as a consumer device.
Bloomberg has reported that Google's wristband, which has just been confirmed by the company, could be used in clinical trials and drug tests. If that's the case, it sounds like it'll be similar to Apple's Researchkit, which allows researchers and physicians to crop data from patients participating in certain app studies.
Google's Andy Conrad, who heads the life sciences group, told Bloomberg that the wristband is considered experimental. It is being developed within the Google X research lab and can measure things like your pulse, heart rhythm, skin temperature, and environmental data (such as light exposure, noise levels, etc).
Google wants the wristband to become a medical device prescribed to patients or used in clinical trials as a means of continuously tracking vital signs outside of a lab. The goal is to make the device not only easy for patients to use, but also accurate at capturing rich data. It might even be used to catch early signs of diseases.
“I envision a day, in 20 or 30 years, where physicians give it to all patients,” Conrad explained, while noting Google plans to collaborate with researchers and drugmakers to test the wristband's accuracy. “Prevention means all the time.”
Google will also seek regulatory clearance to use the wristband in the US and Europe, with trials kicking off this summer. But first, Google will need to seek out a manufacturing partner, Conrad said.