For its next act, Verily hopes to sop up patient data with the help of a new, consumer-facing app.
The 10-year-old Alphabet subsidiary on Friday announced Verily Me, which will be marketed as a cost-free way for anyone to get certain care recommendations from Verily’s partnered clinicians based on users’ existing medical records. Those health histories are crude oil for a health care and life sciences industry that’s become increasingly data-hungry with the rise of artificial intelligence. So Verily hopes the app will also act as an on-ramp to get identifiable patient records into a new, real-world data registry called Lifelong that it will market to pharma companies and other research customers.
Because of its association with Alphabet, Verily will have to walk a tightrope to avoid the perception that big tech is coming for patient data. Myoung Cha, Verily’s chief product officer, emphasized the company would treat user data collected for care appropriately. “There’s a lot of sensitive data that we’re talking about in Verily Me and Lifelong, and it’s all built on an extremely solid foundation of data privacy, consent, and security,” he said. “We’re a health care entity as well, not just a tech company, so everything here from the platform to the mobile app is health care grade privacy and security.”
This article is exclusive to STAT+ subscribers
Unlock this article — and get additional analysis of the technologies disrupting health care — by subscribing to STAT+.
Already have an account? Log in
