Google Reveals Gigantic Ambitions To Fight Cancer, Diabetes, Parkinson's, Heart Problems
Google is pumping vast amounts of cash into its
cutting-edge life sciences plans , turning a secretive
unit based on smart contact lenses into a high
powered, expert company.
The newly announced business will be entirely
focused on the billions of dollars of annual revenues
on offer from helping patients with a range of major
health issues, from diabetes, Parkinson’s, cancer and
heart disease to the general quest to increase
comfortable life span.
The split is part of Google’s Alphabet reshuffle that
has seen the clearer separation of activities such as
advertising and self driving cars.
At the head of the new health unit is Andy Conrad,
who has an extensive nanotechnology and molecular
biology background, and who was head of life
sciences at the former Google X research division.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin, never one to miss
out on a big business opportunity, is determined for
the company to position itself at the forefront of the
immensely lucrative health tech market in several key
areas.
Some 387 million people globally live with diabetes
and 10 million live with Parkinson’s . Around 14
million new cancer cases are diagnosed each year,
and over 17 million people die annually from heart
disease. Supplying the technology to help patients in
these areas is seen as both important for society and
as a big potential market.
Nothing Google ever does is by halves – even its step
away from smart glasses (known as Google Glass) is
temporary until they can be commercialized more
successfully – so a move into healthcare will be
aimed at eventual market leadership. It’s also
personal for Brin, who is particularly interested in
treating Parkinson’s after his mother developed the
condition. Co-founder Larry Page has a rare vocal
cord condition and is a strong drive to improve
healthcare tech.
Google Relies On Health Collaborators
Brin knows the company cannot simply step into
healthcare devices and run the show . Its smart
contact lenses are being developed in collaboration
with Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis, and Brin
expects the company’s other endeavors to be
collaborative. Google may have the tech nous, but it
doesn’t have the depth and breadth of medical
expertise of the established pharma giants. Not yet,
anyway.
Google will work with companies ranging from
research and development startups to advanced
clinical firms similar to Novartis.
Of course, Google is far from alone in this market.
Apple, Microsoft Fitbit and Samsung are among
those increasingly active in fitness and health
tracking. Intel, which is making serious steps in
managing both Parkinson’s and cancer, just last week
released the communication system used by Stephen
Hawking to the tens of thousands of ALS sufferers in
the US and beyond (even if that was open sourced,
we can expect Intel to be offering paid for systems in
other areas).
Transforming Disease Detection, Prevention And
Management
Google’s new health unit was born directly from the
company’s ongoing work on smart contact lenses,
which was described by Brin in a recent Google+ post
as an “immensely challenging technical problem with
an important application to health”.
The work, which has been ongoing for three years
with no product yet available, is aimed at creating a
smart contact lens that contains a low power
microchip and an almost invisible, hair-thin
electronic circuit. The lens can measure diabetics’
blood sugar levels directly from tear fluid on the
surface of the eyeball, sending data to their mobile
device.
It is just the start of Google’s vision to transform the
way scientists detect, prevent and manage disease,
including heart health, and potentially attempt to
increase the length and quality of people’s lives with
its Calico business.
Brin said he was “delighted” at the smart contact lens
project’s progress, but added that he “could not have
imagined the potential of the initiative it has grown
into: a life sciences team with the mission to develop
new technologies to make healthcare more
proactive.”
The tech being produced includes a nanodiagnostics
platform for detecting disease right down to the
molecular level, a technique expected to find
particular use in areas such as cancer and even
Alzheimer’s. Indeed, evidence of Google’s interest in
tackling cancer comes in the form of numerous
talented oncologists being appointed to its founding
life sciences team.
Meanwhile, Google is developing a cardiac and
activity monitor, and making progress on its ‘Baseline
Study’ genomic efforts to map a healthy human body
and predict illness before it takes hold. And one year
ago it acquired Lift Labs, a fast growing Parkinson’s
startup.
The work, Brin admits, is a “huge undertaking” . But
Google is known for relentlessly pushing its vision.
The results over the next few decades are likely to
have an equally resounding impact, of course, on
both public health and Google’s own financial
position. Source
http://toptipsabthealth.blogspot.com/2015/08/
google-reveals-gigantic-ambitions-to.html
cutting-edge life sciences plans , turning a secretive
unit based on smart contact lenses into a high
powered, expert company.
The newly announced business will be entirely
focused on the billions of dollars of annual revenues
on offer from helping patients with a range of major
health issues, from diabetes, Parkinson’s, cancer and
heart disease to the general quest to increase
comfortable life span.
The split is part of Google’s Alphabet reshuffle that
has seen the clearer separation of activities such as
advertising and self driving cars.
At the head of the new health unit is Andy Conrad,
who has an extensive nanotechnology and molecular
biology background, and who was head of life
sciences at the former Google X research division.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin, never one to miss
out on a big business opportunity, is determined for
the company to position itself at the forefront of the
immensely lucrative health tech market in several key
areas.
Some 387 million people globally live with diabetes
and 10 million live with Parkinson’s . Around 14
million new cancer cases are diagnosed each year,
and over 17 million people die annually from heart
disease. Supplying the technology to help patients in
these areas is seen as both important for society and
as a big potential market.
Nothing Google ever does is by halves – even its step
away from smart glasses (known as Google Glass) is
temporary until they can be commercialized more
successfully – so a move into healthcare will be
aimed at eventual market leadership. It’s also
personal for Brin, who is particularly interested in
treating Parkinson’s after his mother developed the
condition. Co-founder Larry Page has a rare vocal
cord condition and is a strong drive to improve
healthcare tech.
Google Relies On Health Collaborators
Brin knows the company cannot simply step into
healthcare devices and run the show . Its smart
contact lenses are being developed in collaboration
with Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis, and Brin
expects the company’s other endeavors to be
collaborative. Google may have the tech nous, but it
doesn’t have the depth and breadth of medical
expertise of the established pharma giants. Not yet,
anyway.
Google will work with companies ranging from
research and development startups to advanced
clinical firms similar to Novartis.
Of course, Google is far from alone in this market.
Apple, Microsoft Fitbit and Samsung are among
those increasingly active in fitness and health
tracking. Intel, which is making serious steps in
managing both Parkinson’s and cancer, just last week
released the communication system used by Stephen
Hawking to the tens of thousands of ALS sufferers in
the US and beyond (even if that was open sourced,
we can expect Intel to be offering paid for systems in
other areas).
Transforming Disease Detection, Prevention And
Management
Google’s new health unit was born directly from the
company’s ongoing work on smart contact lenses,
which was described by Brin in a recent Google+ post
as an “immensely challenging technical problem with
an important application to health”.
The work, which has been ongoing for three years
with no product yet available, is aimed at creating a
smart contact lens that contains a low power
microchip and an almost invisible, hair-thin
electronic circuit. The lens can measure diabetics’
blood sugar levels directly from tear fluid on the
surface of the eyeball, sending data to their mobile
device.
It is just the start of Google’s vision to transform the
way scientists detect, prevent and manage disease,
including heart health, and potentially attempt to
increase the length and quality of people’s lives with
its Calico business.
Brin said he was “delighted” at the smart contact lens
project’s progress, but added that he “could not have
imagined the potential of the initiative it has grown
into: a life sciences team with the mission to develop
new technologies to make healthcare more
proactive.”
The tech being produced includes a nanodiagnostics
platform for detecting disease right down to the
molecular level, a technique expected to find
particular use in areas such as cancer and even
Alzheimer’s. Indeed, evidence of Google’s interest in
tackling cancer comes in the form of numerous
talented oncologists being appointed to its founding
life sciences team.
Meanwhile, Google is developing a cardiac and
activity monitor, and making progress on its ‘Baseline
Study’ genomic efforts to map a healthy human body
and predict illness before it takes hold. And one year
ago it acquired Lift Labs, a fast growing Parkinson’s
startup.
The work, Brin admits, is a “huge undertaking” . But
Google is known for relentlessly pushing its vision.
The results over the next few decades are likely to
have an equally resounding impact, of course, on
both public health and Google’s own financial
position. Source
http://toptipsabthealth.blogspot.com/2015/08/
google-reveals-gigantic-ambitions-to.html
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