Maker of wearable continuous blood pressure monitor, Aktiia, today launched their 24/7 automated blood pressure monitoring system that gathers data during the day and while the user is asleep.

Aktiia has received its CE mark as a Class lla medical device, meaning that the device has been assessed to meet safety, health and environmental protection requirements in Europe.

The device is also now available for sale in the United Kingdom. 

WHY IT MATTERS

Millions of people worldwide are at risk of severe health complications and death due to untreated or uncontrolled hypertension. The average person with hypertension measures their blood pressure only once per week due to the inconvenience and discomfort associated with a traditional cuff.

Aktiia automatically measures blood pressure over the course of hours, days and weeks and does not have to interrupt the users' day and sleep time to take a measurement. The data is then visualised in a free companion application and can be shared with a physician or family member to detect concerning blood pressure changes.

Aktiia’s Optical Blood Pressure Monitoring (OBPM) algorithms leverage optical sensors worn on the wrist and provide blood pressure values by analysing photoplethysmographic (PPG) signals generated by the change of the diameter of the arteries occurring at each heartbeat.

THE LARGER CONTEXT

A spinout of CSEM, a Swiss research and development centre, Aktiia launched in 2018 with the goal of commercialising its continuous blood pressure monitoring bracelet.

Amongst its moves to expand, in March 2020, Aktiia scored over $6 million (€4.9M) to go to market with its cuff-less blood monitoring system.

In 2019, the Swiss startup released findings demonstrating that its system does not need to recalibrate after two months of use. 

ON THE RECORD

Dr Neil Poulter, professor of preventive cardiovascular medicine at Imperial College London said: “Hypertension is the number one cause of cardiovascular disease and premature death worldwide. Accurate blood pressure measurement and particularly 24/7 monitoring of blood pressure is increasingly recognised as being important to improve the diagnosis and control of raised blood pressure, thereby improving patient outcomes. Tracking blood pressure over long periods, without alerting the patient represents a potential game changer in the diagnosis and monitoring of hypertension.”

Mike Kisch, CEO at Aktiia said: “With cardiovascular disease as the leading cause of death across the world, people need to better understand the impact of their lifestyle choices and physicians need the ability to more deeply understand blood pressure patterns so they can change the way that they diagnose and treat people living with hypertension. After 15 years in development and 1 million blood pressure readings, Aktiia has cracked the code to bring to market the world's first automated 24/7 blood pressure monitoring system.”