Post on 26-Jun-2020
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In early January at the Consumer Electronics
Show in Las Vegas, Pathway Genomics
announced the closed-alpha release of its
OME app. This platform promises to leverage
the cognitive computing power of IBM Watson
with precision medicine and genetics to
deliver personalized wellness information.
As individuals take on greater financial
responsibility for their own healthcare, the
OME app will allow them to take more control
of their health and wellness, customized and
informed by their health status and other
relevant data. As Pathway envisions it, for
consumers to get the most benefit from the
app, they would first get doctor approval for
the Pathway Fit genetic test, which specifically
examines 75 genes that focus on phenotypes
related to diet, exercise, lipids, and sugar
metabolism.
OME-ing in on precision wellness Pathway Genomics’ OME personalized
wellness app leverages Watson’s
cognitive computing
by Chris Anderson
“IBM Watson” by Clockready - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
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IBM was also named as an additional Pathway
investor in a Series E financing that raised $40
million in early January.
The power of the app will come in directly
linking diet, exercise and wellness recommen-
dations to each person’s genetic profile, noted
Bill Evans, vice president of Watson Health.
“Most diets don’t work, because they are not
matched up to a person’s metabolism or the
way they respond to food or exercise,” Evans
said. “This is an exciting capability Pathway
is bringing to market, because it does get the
user much closer to having a more informed
set of information and recommendations that
are tailored to their specific characteristics, as
opposed to general analytics.”
While the app is currently in closed-alpha
testing with employees of two unnamed
companies, Nova said Pathway expects to
make the app available more broadly. One
strategy for speeding adoption of the app
by individuals will be to offer it through
employers as a part of their employee wellness
programs.
As the product matures, Pathway also intends to
enable the inclusion of more sets of data. This
would include the results of diagnostic testing and
information contained in a user’s electronic health
record. Watson will play a vital role in helping
analyze and crunch the data from these additional
data sources, Nova added.
“The one thing artificial intelligence is really good
at is making sense of really big chunks of data
across different silos,” Nova said. “And medicine has
very siloed data. You’ve got insurance information
in one silo, nutrition information in another silo
and it goes on and on. Watson will help us unlock
the information found in these silos.”
The diet, exercise and metabolism report
from the Fit genetic test will be analyzed in
conjunction with other patient data to help
make diet and exercise recommendations via
the app.
“Genetics data is very dense data, but you
can’t do genetics in a vacuum,” said Michael
Nova, MD, chief innovation officer with
Pathway Genomics. “You need information
about the patient, you need clinical data and
also data from wearables: Fitbit, blood pressure
measurements, Apple Watch and others. With
Watson cognitive computing, leveraged by
our technology, we are able to deliver
real-time, highly personalized insights to
empower people to change unhealthy
behaviors, allowing them to live healthier
lives in ways we never thought possible.”
The development of the app took roughly a
year, Nova said, and IBM Watson took an
equity stake in the company in November 2014
to help fund development of the product.