Digital Biomarkers Are Being Pushed Forward.

• Position: CLINICAL INNOVATIONS

Traditional biomarkers are data points that allow for clinical decisionmaking around diagnosis and treatment plans. While traditional biomarkers are identified from anatomical or biochemical data, digital biomarkers differ in that they are identified from patterns found in noninvasively collected digital data, such as speech, step counts, or sleep.

The underlying algorithms that identify these patterns are integrated into existing smartphones and wearables. The three defining factors of digital biomarkers are that they are continuous, are noninvasive, and leverage the remote collection of data, all of which allow physicians to get a more holistic picture of a patient

"Research is regularly uncovering new use cases for digital biomarkers, such as early detection of the flu and optimizing drug selection for mental health treatment," says Danielle Bradnan, analyst for Lux Research, Boston, Mass., and author of its biomarker report

"Specific integration into clinically validated products is likely to follow a five- to 10-year timeline. However, once it becomes more...