From Laennec to Landgraf: 200 years to revolutionise the stethoscope  with the EKO CORE connected stethoscope !

Invented in 1816 by Laennec, according to Wikipedia, the stethoscope is the ultimate measuring device that all doctors own… and which is often used to symbolise them too.

Just typing “doctor” + “icon” into Google is enough to realise that images of a doctor without a stethoscope are hard to come by.

doctors and their stethoscope

EKO CORE: the first electronic stethoscope approved by the FDA

A few days ago the FDA announced that it had approved this digital stethoscope launched by a company called EKO : 

EKO CORE connected stethoscope

The device, sold with or without a traditional stethoscope to attach it to, is connected to a mobile application (only IOS for now) and allows a medical exam to be recorded.

No diagnosis or transmission at this stage, but there are many possibilities for development in the future, particularly within developing countries and in telemedicine.

More and more digital solutions approved by the FDA to save the healthcare system

A few days later, the FDA approved the first digital medicine, jointly launched by OTSUKA and Proteus Health as a digital version of a well-known antidepressant…

Proteus connected drug

This seems to confirm Accenture’s prediction in a recent study summarised in this infographic : 

Accenture-Colossal-Clash-Infographic

 The number of devices approved by the FDA is set to triple between now and 2018 and the savings generated by these digital solutions should allow $50 billion to be saved in that time…

An extraordinary meeting with Connor Landgraf, the founder and inventor of EKO

During my last trip to Silicon Valley with the great team from l’Atelier BNP Paribas for an e-health learning field trip, I was lucky enough to meet Connor Landgraf, the inventor of the digital stethoscope and founder of EKO.

What was originally a challenge set by a professor for this bioengineer at the prestigious Berkeley University is poised to become a genuine e-health success story.

He was even named by Forbes in early 2015 as one of the 30 people under 30 years of age who are shaking up healthcare…

An interview to watch again and again… I asked him to send me an EKO CORE, and I hope to be able to show it to you very soon.

Digitally yours,

Lionel Reichardt/Pharmageek