The DX Pipeline: New Invitae App Leverages Apple Watch Data for Studying Disease Genetics

Invitae’s newly launched Invitae Discover app is in many ways the perfect manifestation of where consumer-based precision medicine diagnostics is heading. The app combines health and activity data from Apple Health and the customer’s Apple Watch with genetic testing results to help researchers achieve a better understanding of the genetics behind disease. All the customer has to do is install the app, which is available in the Apple Store, and allow it to monitor his/her health data.

“The creation of the Invitae Discover platform will make it easier to conduct studies that assess genetic test results alongside the biometric data that is now easily available on Apple Watch, thereby joining basic electrophysiological data with genetic information in order to advance our understanding of the genetic underpinnings of disease and help improve clinical care,” noted Invitae chief medical officer Robert Nussbaum, M.D.

The first study on Invitae Discover, called Afib CAUSE (Correlations between atrial fibrillation and cardiomyopathy phenotypes and variants of uncertain significance in cardiac-related genes), is already underway. The study will seek to leverage the mobile device data and customers’ genetic testing results to analyze how genetic changes contribute to atrial fibrillation and other cardiovascular conditions.

Other New DX Product Launches

Here’s a rundown of the key product launches announced from mid-November through late December, 2019.