The US Army Medical Research & Development Command (USAMRDC) has selected Massachusetts-based Empatica to deploy a wearable and algorithm that enable the early and pre-symptomatic detection of Covid-19.

The project’s focus is on protecting the health of the general population by preventing outbreaks via early detection and alerting. Empatica’s Aura algorithm gives a daily risk-indication of an individual having contracted Covid-19, using physiological data collected by Empatica’s EmbracePlus medical smartwatch.

The initiative is multi-phased, beginning with the clinical validation of Empatica’s algorithm on healthy participants at risk of contracting Covid-19. FDA submissions for regulatory approvals will run in parallel, with the project concluding in a virtual clinical study on participants opting-in to test and validate the entire platform.

The tested hardware will consist of EmbracePlus, a medical device in a smartwatch form-factor, with clinical-grade sensors that measure heart rate, heart rate variability, temperature, respiratory rate and electrodermal activity. The device unobtrusively monitors a person’s vitals, and sends in-app alerts for patterns suggestive of Covid-19 infection, helping wearers self-isolate and seek testing without unwittingly infecting others.

“Use of wearable tech to prevent rapid spread of Covid-19 within our units is an important capability,” said Christopher Steele, director of USAMRDC’s military operational medicine research programme. “Key industry partners are well positioned to help the DoD in this regard.”

Empatica CEO Matteo Lai added: “It is a privilege for our team to participate in the effort to combat Covid-19 together with the USAMRDC. The department arguably has the world’s best track record in sponsoring and fostering ground-breaking technologies. Their inspiration to intervene and act with this initiative brings into sharp focus the impact Covid-19 has had in our daily lives, as well as the need to work together to face the challenge. This is not only a technological race against time, but also a civic responsibility in employing our experience against a threat to our health and economy.”

Empatica makes a medical device system combining a wearable, app and algorithm to provide a daily Covid-19 risk assessment to users. Earlier this year, Empatica partnered with HHS to validate Aura’s Covid-19 detection capabilities on at-risk healthcare workers. Furthering this work with the USAMRDC provides additional resources to deploy Aura to the general population.

The company is a pioneer in continuous, unobtrusive and remote health monitoring driven by AI. Its platform combines accurate biomarkers, software and wearables to monitor multiple conditions. The products are used by thousands of institutional partners for research purposes, in trials and studies examining stress, sleep, epilepsy, migraine, depression, addiction and other conditions.

The USAMRDC is the US Army’s medical materiel developer, with responsibility for medical research, development and acquisition. It produces medical products for the battlefield with a focus on various areas of biomedical research, including military infectious diseases, combat casualty care, military operational medicine, medical chemical and biological defence, and clinical and rehabilitative medicine.