HEALTH SPECIAL
Hakim Yadi describes as “software as a medical device”. “The standard doctor/patient interaction is that when you’re sick you go to the doctor, get a prescription, then go back and see them again a few weeks or months later to see if it has worked,” he says. “This means as a patient you’re often left waiting for an appointment, and the doctor has to rely on partial information they received from the patient when making decisions about the efficacy of a treatment. It’s an imperfect feedback loop, and we have a digital means to close that loop.” Closed Loop’s platform allows closer monitoring of drug and behavioural therapies, and uses these insights to tailor treatments to the individual. Patients receive a customised prescription that combines existing drugs with digital elements and medical devices. “For example, if we notice a patient is engaging particularly well with behavioural therapy when it involves watching videos, we can ensure they are delivered more video, rather than written, content,” Dr Yadi says. Closed Loop was founded in 2017, and has secured backing from a number of notable Cambridge investors including Cambridge Angels, IQ Capital and Martlet. Its chairman is renowned biotech entrepreneur and investor Dr Andy Richards, who has been involved in some of the Cambridge cluster’s biggest life science success stories. The Closed Loop vision is to put the power of therapy in the hands of the individual, so they can benefit from a truly personalised treatment"
is important, so identifying and diagnosing AF and other heart rhythms requires a wearable and dynamic device. Heartsense does this.” Dr Shakur founded the company after seeing first-hand the problems caused by AF during his career as cardiologist and clinical academic. He designed and built Heartsense with the help of co-founders Dr Robert Lowe and Professor Roberto Cipolla, who is a machine learning expert from Cambridge University’s department of engineering, whose father died from a stroke. Heartsense features an array of sensors that feed data back to an AI platform. This helps identify potentially problematic heart rhythms and flags them up to doctors. A finalist in the Fast Company 2019 World Changing Ideas Awards, Heartsense is currently being trialed in the UK and US. “We are currently undergoing accreditation for the device and hope to have clinical devices available in early 2020,” Dr Shakur says. cambridgeheartwear.com Closed Loop Medicine Truly personalised medicine is the holy grail for many in healthcare, delivering optimum treatment for patients and welcome efficiencies for care providers. Closed Loop Medicine believes it has come up with a solution that could personalise treatment of many common conditions, combining traditional and digital therapeutics to create what CEO and co-founder Dr
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