The 6 Next Big Things In Healthtech For 2023

Source: Fast Company, Jessica Bursztynsky and David Salazar
Photo: Hush Naidoo, Jade Photography on Unsplash

From bioprinted pancreatic tissue to AI-backed mental health treatment plans, these technologies are changing the game in the world of health.

The healthcare sector has by now become completely intertwined with tech innovation. Whether it’s through allowing clinicians to spend more time focusing on treatment or introducing innovative technologies that give power back to patients, tech powerhouses continue to advance the industry.

Aspect Biosystems
For bioprinting a potential cure for type 1 diabetes

Aspect Biosystems’ bioprinted pancreatic tissue is, once implanted, able to cure Type 1 diabetes in rats. As Aspect works with the FDA on bringing its therapeutics to humans, it has garnered attention from diabetes giant Novo Nordisk, with whom it inked a $2.6 billion partnership for use of its bioprinting technology to develop diabetes and obesity treatments.

BrainQ Technologies
For exploring a way to improve stroke recovery in a patient’s home

Israeli company BrainQ has been making neuro rehab at home more readily accessible—and effective. BrainQ’s approach, which has earned the FDA’s Breakthrough Therapy designation, pairs a cloud-based therapy-delivery system with a wearable device that creates a low-energy electromagnetic field meant to improve connections in the brain as it repairs itself over a nine-week therapy window. Over the past two years, BrainQ has steadily added enrollees across 15 U.S. hospitals to its stroke recovery trial that’s assessing the efficacy of its approach.

NextSense
For being the brains behind brain health’s next-gen treatments

With in-ear technology that can collect EEG data, NextSense develops devices that can deliver personalized therapies for conditions like peripartum depression. In addition, its platform of brain-health biomarkers offers insights that can inform new treatments and drug discovery. In 2022, it began monetizing its biomarker platform, bringing in $1 million in revenue as pharma companies like Takeda and Otsuka employed it to support their development of brain-health drug treatments. It also received FDA Breakthrough designation for its PPD therapy.

Spring Health
For taking the guesswork out of mental healthcare

Mental health care can be time-consuming and costly, with patients usually having to try out multiple different types of medications, therapies, and support to find what works. Spring Health offers precision mental health care, using AI and data to pinpoint what they say is exactly the right treatment fit for each person. The company says its model leads to recovery that is eight weeks faster on average when compared to traditional diagnostic methods.

Suki AI
For freeing-up clinicians

There’s no getting around it: Healthcare providers are burnt out. In addition to treating patients and saving lives, physicians and other medical professionals are spending hours on documentation and administration work that pulls them away from doing the work they love. Suki AI created an AI voice assistant to alleviate that administrative burden. It recently announced an integration with Epic, which makes it the only solution on the market that works directly with all major electronic health records.

Theranica
For treating adolescent migraines

Migraines are debilitating, but most treatment options focus on adults. Theranica‘s Nerivio wearable is targeting the 100 million adolescents worldwide who are impacted by migraines. The company’s FDA-approved treatment uses a smartphone app and a product that wraps around a user’s upper arm to trigger a natural process in the brain to control migraine pain. Each treatment lasts 45 minutes, and it can be used as prevention or for acute treatment at the start of an attack.

The companies behind these technologies are among the honorees in Fast Company’s Next Big Things in Tech awards for 2023. See a full list of all the winners across all categories and read more about the methodology behind the selection process.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90978960/next-big-things-tech-health