Digital Biomarkers Are Emerging as Key to Personalized Health and Wellness Solutions, and the Time to Act is Now, According to Lux Research

Digital biomarkers are opening new ways to use established sensors and will become increasingly ubiquitous over the next five years. 

BOSTON, MA, OCTOBER 14, 2021 – Over the past few years, digital biomarkers have been gaining momentum. The drive to track the spread of COVID-19 has only served to accelerate this trend. Digital biomarkers are emerging as a key technology tool in health and wellness and are opening new ways to use established sensors for early disease identification and management, according to new data from Lux Research, a leading provider of tech-enabled research and innovation advisory services.

Lux’s new report, “Opportunities in Digital Biomarkers,” assesses what health conditions have been identified with which sensors, based on a review of more than 200 publications by Lux analysts. Lux identifies health conditions in such categories as aging, mental and behavioral health, neurodegenerative and musculoskeletal disease, and systemic illnesses and provides recommendations for how companies in different industries can best take advantage of the opportunities digital biomarkers provide.

“Digital biomarkers are key to the personalization of healthcare, both for maintaining wellness and for treating disease, with huge potential benefits for stakeholders across the healthcare value chain,” explains Danielle Bradnan, analyst at Lux Research and lead author of the report. “Consumers benefit from early diagnostics and timely interventions, governments benefit from reduced healthcare costs, and traditional healthcare players benefit from a new tool in the toolbox for managing disease.” 

Of all industries, the opportunities for nontraditional healthcare companies may be the greatest. Tech companies and CPG players, which have the greatest connection with consumers, can now leverage data streams in order to detect disease risk and develop preventive or supportive products for clinical conditions. Such data streams are becoming ubiquitous, thanks to low-cost, miniaturized sensors that collect behavioral, environmental, and clinical data. 

In the next five years, digital biomarkers are going to gain maturity and will increasingly be incorporated into solutions that will enable companies to personalize offerings around health and wellness. It is imperative to understand that digital biomarkers are going to quickly move past the “novel technology” stage and will become an expected component of product development. Companies that do not adopt this technology to meet the health and wellness needs of consumers stand to lose competitive advantage in this evolving landscape. 

Download the executive summary of the report to learn more.