Fitbit Trial Could Be a Boon for MS Patients
Fitbit Trial Could Be a Boon for MS Patients – Amateur athletes use fitness bands like the Fitbit to track their adrenaline-fueled adventures and then brag to friends. Others use the band to count their footsteps and the calories they burn.
Drugmaker Biogen Idec is exploring ways to use fitness trackers to gather data from people who suffer from multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disease that affects the brain and spinal cord.
The company, which has five MS drugs on the market, gave out 250 Fitbit bands to MS patients in the US last spring to track their level of activity and sleep patterns. Mobility is affected by the disease, and Biogen says collecting data on a daily basis — about how much and how fast MS patients walk, for example — could yield data about the progression of the disease and lead to better treatments.
“Let’s say you see a patient four times a year — that’s two hours per year,” says Al Sandrock, Biogen’s chief medical officer. “You’re losing 364.9 days of other data that could be collected.”
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