At DEEP Measures, we have watched the landscape shift from tentative curiosity to rapid pharma adoption. Yet, the journey hasn't been a straight line. It has required new science, new terminology and entirely new skills.
Learning from the 'Trough of Disillusionment'
In the early days, early-adopting organizations threw themselves into experimentation. This inevitably led to failures - some public, like the well-known challenges faced by Verily in Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and some not so public.
For a time, the industry seemed stuck in what Gartner calls the 'trough of disillusionment'. We faced uncertainty about regulatory pathways and a tendency toward "pilotcy" - a cycle of endless pilots without clear evidence requirements or paths to scale. However, the industry is learning from these early stumbles to dig itself out of the trough and move toward the 'plateau of productivity'.
The Human Factor
Interestingly, the biggest hurdle hasn't always been the hardware or the algorithms. Like all new things, the limiting factor is often the human element: adapting to a new way of working.
Integrating DHTs requires building new types of teams and communities that take time to optimize. It involves aligning stakeholders who have never had to sit at the same table before. Overcoming these legacy ways of working is difficult, but it is necessary evolution.
Signals of Hope
Despite the growing pains, there is significant hope. We are seeing genuine breakthroughs that are buoying the community. A prime example is the qualification of Stride Velocity 95th centile (SV95C) with the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Milestones like these validate the hard work of the last decade and prove that regulators are ready to accept novel digital endpoints when the evidence is robust.
The Future: A Hybrid Approach
This brings us to the ultimate question: Will DHTs become the gold standard?
There is a temptation to view digital measures as a replacement for the "patient voice." However, replacing Patient Reported Outcomes (PROs) entirely may not be the answer. Will PROs still be the best way to capture the patient experience?
In reality, we believe the best measures, those that capture the complete patient experience - will not be singular. They will be a mix: DHT-derived data, patient-generated insights, and objective yet ecologically valid metrics, all supported by patient reporting.
A Question for You
As we continue to define this new era of measurement, we leave you with this controversial thought:
If we prioritize objective sensor data above all else, do we risk silencing the patient's own perception of their health? Or is the 'patient voice' actually louder when backed by undeniable digital evidence?
Let’s Move Forward, Together. Patients are waiting, the tech is advancing rapidly and we must keep up. Navigating the complexities of regulatory pathways and avoiding the failures of the past requires a steady hand and deep experience. If you are ready to move beyond experimentation and towards measures that capture the complete patient experience, connect with DEEP Measures. Let’s turn these new signals of hope into reality.
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