Gaming Your Way to Better Health

GlobalData predicts that the rise of new technologies such as augmented reality and artificial intelligence along with an expanding technology-driven generation will continue to support the market for video games in healthcare.
 
Akili Interactive is developing a ‘prescription videogame’ to help treat kids with ADHD and its CEO, Dr. Eddie Martucci, was interviewed by GlobalData’s Medical Devices website.
 
In an exclusive interview, Dr. Martucci told GlobalData: “Unlike a biologic, the technology can directly target neurological disorders at their source in the brain. It could be delivered without a video game experience, but a purposefully designed closed-loop video game is a perfect delivery vehicle to engage patients and create an experience that supports the brain’s ability to modify itself. Our goal is for the treatment to not just be engaging, but captivating to the point that, in the moment, patients forget they’re taking medicine.”
 
Dr. Martucci continued: “For products like ours which are so different than any medicine, even digital, that’s come before it, retrofitting a fixed system that’s been designed for pharma just didn’t make sense. Instead, we are investing in the infrastructure to build a modular platform specifically for digital therapeutics that is flexible and scalable. The platform will allow us to deliver a better experience for patients, physicians and payers, using the latest technology to allow multiple ways of engaging with our customers to fit into their busy lives.”
 
In response to the interview, GlobalData’s medical devices analyst, Ashley Young, commented: “With their video game prescription offering, Akili Interactive is joining a number of companies that have invested in the idea of using video games as a medical treatment. Gaming principles have long been utilized in lifestyle tracking devices and applications, such as the challenges you can play with friends in FitBit’s fitness trackers, or the badges you can obtain at certain levels of exercise in Apple’s Apple Watch. Video games have also been used to help treat more serious conditions; for instance, Bayer developed a blood glucose meter for children with diabetes that connects to a Nintendo DS. GlobalData predicts that the rise of new technologies such as augmented reality and artificial intelligence along with an expanding technology-driven generation will continue to support the market for video games in healthcare.”
 
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