G42 Healthcare Brings Biometric WHOOP Bands Into COVID-19 Vaccine Trial

G42 Healthcare has announced a partnership with Boston-based wearable tech firm WHOOP that will result in volunteers participating in Phase III trials of an inactivated COVID-19 vaccine having the option to wear the WHOOP Strap 3.0 biometric smart band to measure various biometric data points while trialing the vaccine in what is being called The Whoop4Humanity initiative.

“As a digital business, this new partnership is a logical extension of the highly-advanced AI and super computer solutions we are already using in the trials process,” said G42 Heathcare CEO Ashish Koshy. “New volunteers will be invited to engage with the technology developed by WHOOP to enhance their individual volunteer experience and contribute to the advanced research involved in these sophisticated trials.”

The WHOOP Strap 3.0 will allow trial participants who choose to wear the device to track their daily heart rate, respiratory rate, sleep performance data and more, providing researchers with the biometric data from those metrics which may be valuable to the success of the trial.

“We believe that giving volunteers an opportunity to use the WHOOP Strap 3.0 wearable device will reinforce their confidence in the trial by giving them the ability to check on several daily health data points,” commented Koshy. “This will complement the world-class clinical expertise that the healthcare professionals in the UAE are providing to the volunteers and ensure their safety and well-being throughout the trials process,” he added.

This news comes almost one month after it was announced that the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) and its European tour partner the Ladies European Tour (LET) were acquiring one thousand WHOOP smart bands to help monitor the vitals of players and personnel on tour.

“WHOOP is proud to partner with G42 Healthcare and participate in their innovative Phase III COVID-19 vaccine trial,” said Will Ahmed, WHOOP Founder & CEO. “The continuous biometric monitoring offered by WHOOP will help volunteers evaluate any changes to their health and help researchers vastly increase their understanding of the vaccine’s impact.”

Ahmed also added that he believes the partnership “represents the future of healthcare: using continuous monitoring and artificial intelligence to better understand the effect of drugs, vaccines, and other treatments.”

G42 Healthcare, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi-based Group 42, is conducting the clinical trials of the vaccine — which began on July 16th in Abu Dhabi — in partnership with the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi, the UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP) and Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA).

Phase III — which will last for between six and 12 months — follows two previous successful trials conducted by SinoPharm in China, and is open to individuals between 18 and 60 years of age living in the UAE and Bahrain.

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August 17, 2020 – by Tony Bitzionis