During a history-making event at the CES 2022, when Abbott Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Robert B Ford made the first-ever keynote address by a pharmaceutical company at the most influential tech event in the world, the company announced it is developing Lingo – a new category of consumer biowearables.
These biowearables are being designed to translate body’s unique language into actionable data to help customers track and measure their general health and wellness. The sensor technology is being designed to track key signals in the body such as glucose, ketones and lactate, and could also be used one day to track alcohol levels.
“This will be like having a window into your body,” Ford said. “It’s science that you will be able to access any time so you can understand what your body is telling you and what it needs. Our vision is that Lingo will go far beyond today’s wearables for consumers to help you proactively manage your health, nutrition and athletic performance.”
Lingo extends the Abbott sensing technology platform that Abbott pioneered in 2014 for people with diabetes, allowing people to continuously monitor their glucose levels with a small sensor on the back of the upper arm. Actress and comedian Sherri Shepherd shared live on the CES stage how FreeStyle Libre 2 changed her life, giving her glucose readings, right on her smartphone, unique to her body so she can make healthier decisions.
Abbott then built this technology platform to develop a product designed for athletes with the 2020 launch of Libre Sense Glucose Sport Biowearable in Europe. Elite athletes, like marathon world record holder Eliud Kipchoge, use this biowearable to optimise how they fuel their bodies for rigorous training. Lingo aims to expand glucose monitoring to people looking to manage their weight, sleep better, improve energy and think clearer.
Abbott is designing Lingo to measure other biomarkers beyond glucose in the future. A ketone biowearable is being developed to track ketones continuously, see how fast you are getting into ketosis, and understand exactly what keeps you there by providing insights on dieting and weight loss. A lactate biowearable is in development to track continuous lactate build up during exercise, which can be used as an indicator of athletic performance.
Ford presented a keynote headlined, ‘Human-Powered Health: Unlocking the Possibility of You’.
“Technology gives us the power to digitise, decentralise and democratise healthcare, create a shared language between you and your doctor – and put more control of your health in your hands,” he said. “We’re creating a future that will bring you and your loved ones care that’s more personal and precise. It’s happening right now. And its potential is no less than incredible.”
Ford was joined on stage by people whose lives were impacted by Abbott devices, partners who rallied to provide seamless and safe travel experiences and other visionaries in the industry.
Tyrone Morris, a heart failure patient who was given six months to live, shared his story of how he beat the odds thanks to three separate Abbott devices: HeartMate 3, CardioMEMS and an implantable defibrillator. Today, Morris owns a barbecue catering business and food trucks in Humble, Texas, where he specialises in low-sodium recipes.
United Airlines’ Managing Director of Hospitality & Planning Aaron McMillan and Dr Patrice Harris, co-founder and CEO of eMed, a digital health company democratising healthcare through its Digital-Point-of-Care platform, described how they came together with Abbott to help people fly confidently and conveniently with BinaxNOW COVID-19 Home Tests.
United customers can take the proctored tests when traveling and have those results seamlessly confirmed by Abbott’s NAVICA app and verified through United’s Travel Ready Center.
Dr Fiona Gupta of Mount Sinai Health System in New York highlighted how she uses the NeuroSphere Virtual Clinic, a first-of-its-kind technology in the US, that provides people with deep brain stimulation remotely, so physicians can optimise and adjust treatments over cellular or Wi-Fi while Parkinson’s and chronic pain patients consult with them from the comfort of their living rooms.
Dr Mary Rodgers, an Abbott virus hunter, shared how a first-of-its-kind network called the Abbott Pandemic Defense Coalition – stretching from Brazil to Senegal to Thailand – is working to identify new viruses and help stop them before they can spread.
Also read: Has the human-device relationship fast-tracked the fitness industry?
