Health and wellness were in the spotlight at CES 2022 in Las Vegas, which featured the CEO of a pharmaceutical company as a keynote speaker for the first time ever. Robert B. Ford, chairman and CEO of the pharmaceutical company, took the stage. Abbott LabsHe explained to the audience how technology applied to healthcare is instrumental in improving people's lives. Ford spoke about how the development of drugs, vaccines, new methods to prevent, control, diagnose diseases and personalise treatments are possible thanks to science and technological innovation.
"The convergence of health and technology has the power to digitise, decentralise and democratise healthcare, to create a shared language between patient and doctor and to increase the ability of each of us to take control of our own health," he added, referring to the concept of "human-powered health" that Abbott, with 130 years' experience in pharmaceuticals, has embraced.
In addition to developing the first rapid diagnostic test for HIV, the Chicago-based pharmaceutical company is known for developing devices and therapies that have proved revolutionary in the management of various diseases: the Freestyle Libre system, which allows people with diabetes to constantly measure their blood glucose levels with a small wearable sensor, eliminating the need to prick their finger; CardioMEMS, a wireless sensor that can be implanted in the pulmonary artery to monitor capillary wedge pressure (PIC), whose increase is the most frequent cause of hospitalisation in heart failure patients; the HeartMate ventricular assist system, a device surgically placed inside the chest and attached to the heart's left ventricle and aorta, which improves the life expectancy of patients with advanced heart failure; and the Neuromodulation product line, which, designed for those with movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease, delivers low-intensity electrical impulses to the nerve structure and helps suppress tremors. These devices, among other things, thanks to NeuroSphere Digital Care, a connected care management platform, can be managed remotely, without the patient having to physically visit the medical facility where they are being treated.
Well-being therefore means living 'well' even in the presence of physical deficits, and in this area technology has taken on an even more valuable role over time, because it facilitates the daily life of those who have to live with certain pathological conditions and promotes inclusion and social relations. There is an Italian company, IntendiMewhich was founded in 2015 with precisely this objective.
An Italian experience
IntendiMe was founded by Alessandra Farris, who started her business together with Giorgia Ambu and Antonio Pinese with the desire to provide her parents, who are both deaf, with a technological support that would alert them to sounds and vibrations in their home and make them feel safer. "At the heart of our work, we have always placed the deaf person, inclusion, accessibility and equality, and we have created a solution developed not just 'for' the deaf but 'with' the deaf," explains Farris. IntendiMe developed the KitMe system, a solution made up of sensors, a smartwatch that is always connected to the person to receive notifications, and an app, which allows anyone to 'hear' warning or danger sounds that resound within the home or in all similar places, directly on their wrist. Martin Franzen, of Design Group Italy, was responsible for the product design: "KitMe's simple and elegant shapes refer to the latest smart wearables and adapt to many users, situations and homes, becoming part of everyday life".
Read the Wellness dossier on the issue 14 of Elettronica AV
