Hestia - interview
Pascal Bruegger and Loïc Guibert for Fri Up - MAI 2024
Innovation in telemedicine: meet the creators of Hestia
Pascal Bruegger, together with Loïc Guibert and your team, you have developed an innovative telemedicine platform. Can you tell us how it works?
Hestia is a platform for the exchange of medical data between patients and doctors, simplifying the transmission of physiological measurements using connected sensors, such as blood pressure meters, oximeters and so on. For example, a person can measure his or her blood pressure at home and transmit this data directly to his or her doctor via our application.
What are the main benefits for users?
Firstly, there’s the accuracy and reliability of the data, which cannot be altered or deleted. This eliminates the risk of manual errors or omissions. Secondly, it means fewer hospital visits, more effective preventive medical intervention, peace of mind and a proactive approach to health management. Our platform can also be adapted for caregivers, athletes or safety applications such as monitoring lone workers on high-risk sites, such as chemical plants.
How does the platform ensure data accuracy?
For the time being, we use Omron brand sensors, renowned for their accuracy and compliance with medical requirements. These sensors record various metrics such as blood pressure, oxygen saturation and heart rate, and transmit them via Bluetooth to our secure mobile app. The app will also be functional with connected watches (Apple Watch or Google Watch) by summer 2024. These devices offer precise measurements, essential for monitoring chronic conditions such as diabetes. In parallel, we are working on integrating ECG (electrocardiogram) and blood glucose sensors. In fact, our platform has been designed to integrate other types and brands of sensor quickly and easily in the future.
Do you work in partnership with medical organizations?
Yes, we are collaborating with the Haute École d’Ingénierie et d’Architecture de Fribourg (HEIA-FR) and the Hôpital Cantonal de Fribourg (HFR), our main partner, who will be testing our platform to integrate and manage patient health data directly into the hospital’s computerized system (DPI), which greatly facilitates post-hospitalization follow-up or monitoring of chronic illnesses. We are also in discussions with the Ensemble Hospitalier de la Côte (EHC), to establish a partnership aimed at digitizing and optimizing patient follow-up, particularly in the field of community care.
Are you planning to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into your platform?
Yes, we intend to add AI to analyze the data collected and provide pre-diagnostics. We’re currently in the advanced testing phase and plan to launch these new functions as soon as we have regulatory approvals, notably from SwissEthics and the data protection authorities.
What kind of support does Fri Up provide?
Current work with Fri Up focuses on financing plans for LynxData, our commercial entity. In particular, we received major support in putting together our dossier for Swiss Universities. Fri Up also gives us the opportunity to expand our network, by putting us in direct contact with relevant players, as well as at regular Start-up Lunch events. We look forward to presenting our pitch at a future one.