At the sidelines of the launch of the Fitbit Versa 2 and Fitbit Aria Air in Singapore yesterday, Louis Lye, Regional Director, Southeast Asia, Fitbit, shared its sleep insights on Singaporeans, who have an average nightly sleep of 7 hours 5 minutes are the third most sleep deprived after Japanese and Indians (who get an average sleep of 6 hours 47 minutes and 7 hours 1 minute respectively).
Based...
Most of us are similar with ‘viruses’ and malware relating to our computers or smartphones, but Yoshihiro Minagawa, a researcher from the University of Tokyo has taken it on literally – he has invented a portable, low-cost, battery-powered device that pairs with a smartphone, which was tested with viruses but could also detect other biological markers. His initial findings, together with other...
With a background in biomedical science and rich experience in medical device venture capital investment, Tomoko Inoue possesses the technical, operational and business knowledge of what makes medtech startups successful – a role perfectly suited for her current role as the CEO of OMRON Ventures.
She believes that in a hyper aging society like Japan, there is a big need for smart infrastructure...
Health2Sync and Novo Nordisk Pharma Ltd. are partnering in Japan to support digital diabetes management and facilitate communication between diabetics and healthcare providers. Last December, the two companies agreed to support the localisation and promotion of the “SyncHealth” App (known as Health2Sync outside of Japan) and web platform for patient management.
People living with diabetes require...
Digital therapeutics company Kaia Health has unveiled a feasibility study to examine the impact of its digital therapeutic treatment of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) on Japan’s ageing population. This follows a German pilot study which successfully decreased symptoms.
COPD is an umbrella term to describe chronic lung diseases that cause limitations in lung airflow. According to the...
Health2Sync, a Taiwanese diabetes management startup, has raised $3 million in a round led by WI Harper Group; with participation from Cherubic Ventures, iSeed Ventures, and SparkLabs Global Ventures. The investors are mostly firms with a presence in both Silicon Valley and in Asia. Funds will be used to expand the program outside of Taiwan and into surrounding markets, especially Japan.
The...
WebMD's Medscape team is working on a new clinical reference app called Medscape Consult that will include an option for doctors to "crowdsource" clinical advice from their colleagues. WebMD CEO David Schlanger announced the app at the company's annual stockholder meeting, where he also spoke about plans for international expansion and a renewed focus on the company's private portal division,...
Japanese mobile operator NTT Docomo just announced a new health and wellness service, called i-Bodymo, that is set to launch on its network next week. Docomo describes i-Bodymo as a mobile health support service that includes a full suite of wellness applications.
i-Bodymo enables users to monitor their daily physical activity and food intake, which is used to provide health tips and advice to...
World Economic Forum turned attention to wireless health: At the World Economic Forum last month, a number of wireless health start-ups were among the speakers. One was Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs whose team has uploaded this video about the wireless health opportunity. Word has it that the WEF's telecom group will have wireless health as a focus this year. Video
Japanese operator to leverage...
Wearable Information Networks (WIN) Human Recorder, a Japanese startup, just brought a wireless ECG sensor service to market, according to a report in Japanese news portal Nikkei. WIN's Human Recorder system collects data from a lightweight wireless sensor attached to the user's chest that transmits data wirelessly to a mobile phone or PC.
The Human Recorder system is capable of measuring ECG...
