Apple Announces ResearchKit Available Today for Developers and Medical Researchers

[MacRumors]

Apple announced on Tuesday that ResearchKit is available today for developers and medical researchers. Starting today, medical researchers worldwide can use ResearchKit to develop their own apps and developers can also contribute new research modules to the open source framework. Apple has created a ResearchKit page on GitHub with a new blog that will share the latest news, updates and tips about the framework.

ResearchKit was previously limited to a handful of exclusive launch partners, including the Weill Cornell Medical College, Mount Sinai, University of Rochester, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Penn Medicine, and Sage Bionetworks, Stanford Medicine and University of Oxford. Now, all developers and medical researchers will have access to the open source framework.

Apple introduced ResearchKit at its Spring Forward media event in March, with a lineup of initials apps available that study asthma, breast cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and Parkinson's disease. Apple announced that those apps, including Asthma Health, mPower, GlucoSuccess, Share the Journey and MyHeart Counts, have received over 60,000 signups since being released on the App Store last month.

"We are delighted and encouraged by the response to ResearchKit from the medical and research community and the participants contributing to medical research. Studies that historically attracted a few hundred participants are now attracting participants in the tens of thousands," said Jeff Williams, Apple's senior vice president of Operations. "Medical researchers all over the world are actively exploring how ResearchKit can help them study even more diseases, and we believe the impact on global understanding of health and wellness will be profound."

ResearchKit apps use iPhone sensors such as the accelerometer, gyroscope, microphone and GPS to track a user's activity levels, motor impairments, memory and more. The research apps, available on the App Store in the United States, are compatible with the iPhone 5, iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and fifth-generation iPod touch. Apple notes that it will be introducing the open source medical framework in other countries soon.

"ResearchKit could help us reach people all over the world who are willing to contribute to medical research, but might not know how or be able to get involved," said Ricky Bloomfield, Director of Mobile Technology Strategy and Assistant Professor in Internal Medicine & Pediatrics at Duke University. "Our team of researchers is now launching the development of an exciting new study using the ResearchKit framework, which will enable us to gather data quickly, from more participants than we are typically able to reach."

"Because of the ubiquity of iPhone and the elegant implementation of consent, survey and instrumented data collection, ResearchKit has enormous promise for leading the transformation of how we engage patients in research," said Kenneth Mandl, MD, MPH, of the Boston Children's Hospital Informatics Program. "Now that we have access to the ResearchKit framework, our team can start customizing the initial modules and even design new ones for our particular study."

More specifically, when given permission, ResearchKit can attain user data like weight, blood pressure, glucose levels and asthma inhaler use through third-party apps and devices. With hundreds of millions of iPhone users, the service will also give researches a more streamlined experience in recruiting and gaining data from study participants, allowing users to answer surveys and input data right from the app.

The announcement follows a new Apple-IBM partnership to support ResearchKit and HealthKit apps.

Article Link: Apple Announces ResearchKit Available Today for Developers and Medical Researchers

 

[MartinAppleGuy]

When will those first 5 apps come out in the UK then?

 

[mattthecoolguy]

Geez, for the past 3 weeks Apple has been getting some serious crap done, with update after update and betas and... wait, does this mean we have an aggressive Apple? GUYS I think we have an aggressive Apple again!

 

[ToomeyND]

This was the most incredible part of the apple watch announcement. Better than the watch or the macbook. It's one of those things, after the fact, that seems like a no brainer. However, it was the integration of so many monitoring devices added to the iPhone over the years that brought it to this point.

 

[aaronvan]

Great, this is where Apple really changes the world.

 

[3282869]

Great stuff!

Still wondering what's happening with HomeKit. Almost a year since announcement, with MiFi compliance settled since December, I'm surprised there hasn't been much news.

 

[The Barron]

Medical Implications

This area is very exciting, IMO. Medical-health related research & sharing will propel Apple to the next level that even Samsung et al won't reach on their bendable phones.

 

[meaning-matters]

In one presentation: Apple first announces ability to buy cause-of-major-health-problems Coca-Cola with iPhone. They even advertised for bloody (literally eh) Coca-Cola. But then offer help in the form of these medical research apps.

 

[Klae17]

I'm just excited they are doing stuff in the spring again.

 

[2457282]

Great stuff!

Still wondering what's happening with HomeKit. Almost a year since announcement, with MiFi compliance settled since December, I'm surprised there hasn't been much news.

My thoughts exactly. I have put off purchases waiting to see how HomeKit plays out. So far looks like a DUD.

 

[oliversl]

http://researchkit.github.io

Nice!

 

[rhp2424]

In one presentation: Apple first announces ability to buy cause-of-major-health-problems Coca-Cola with iPhone. They even advertised for bloody (literally eh) Coca-Cola. But then offer help in the form of these medical research apps.

Without disease, there's no research industry

 

[VulchR]

This will be a boon to research and everybody will benefit.

 

[teslo]

along with the music app and calendar, i'm already getting really tired of the minimalism-on-white look apple's 'pioneering'... boring. or 1980's looking.

 

[Rogifan]

Anyone find it interesting that Jeff Williams is the face Apple's putting forward for ResearchKit? Is Craig Federighi too busy with iOS and OS X?

 

[polterbyte]

Great stuff!

Still wondering what's happening with HomeKit. Almost a year since announcement, with MiFi compliance settled since December, I'm surprised there hasn't been much news.

Gruber has a very interesting take on the WWDC logo revealed today. And it's in that exact direction.

 

[69Mustang]

On the surface I think this could be a paradigm shifting (drink!) development. I am reserving my enthusiasm until we get a better understanding how this information can/will be used by the insurance industry (relating to the IBM Watson Health Cloud). Not trying to throw too much shade, but the insurance industry doesn't have the greatest reputation for caring about people. If this goes well, there will be a mountain of big data (drink!) out there for analysis. How that analysis is interpreted and used is entirely dependent on the analyst. If Insurance is the analyst...

 

[Piggie]

Great, this is where Apple really changes the world.

Yes, they are going to bring out a range of low cost affordable hardware for the masses, so whatever your income you will be able to afford an Apple device using Healthkit.

Apple genuinely cares so much for people in general, they want everyone to be able to afford this, so we can all benefit, rich and poor alike.

Nice one Apple.

 

[bawbac]

Health & medical data available to the highest bidder!

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Yes, they are going to bring out a range of low cost affordable hardware for the masses, so whatever your income you will be able to afford an Apple device using Healthkit.

Apple genuinely cares so much for people in general, they want everyone to be able to afford this, so we can all benefit, rich and poor alike.

Nice one Apple.

You forgot the [/sarcasm] tag.

 

[Piggie]

Health & medical data available to the highest bidder!

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You forgot the [/sarcasm] tag.

I just think Tim Cook is a sick person, for Publicly using people's health as a means to generate maximum profits.
Making out his only interest is the health and welfare of people, using this as a tactic to generate more profits, whilst doing all they can to raise prices of their devices.
Very devious minded individual playing on people's health concerns for pure financial gain.

As I say, if Apple genuinely cared, there is nothing on this planet stopping them from building lower priced hardware that incorporated all the health benefit items they are promoting, even if this lacked many of the other not needed features for health.

 

[ditzy]

I just think Tim Cook is a sick person, for Publicly using people's health as a means to generate maximum profits.
Making out his only interest is the health and welfare of people, using this as a tactic to generate more profits, whilst doing all they can to raise prices of their devices.
Very devious minded individual playing on people's health concerns for pure financial gain.

As I say, if Apple genuinely cared, there is nothing on this planet stopping them from building lower priced hardware that incorporated all the health benefit items they are promoting, even if this lacked many of the other not needed features for health.

Or they could make health kit open source, which would allow people who didn't have an Apple device to benefit.

 

[VulchR]

I just think Tim Cook is a sick person, for Publicly using people's health as a means to generate maximum profits.
Making out his only interest is the health and welfare of people, using this as a tactic to generate more profits, whilst doing all they can to raise prices of their devices.
Very devious minded individual playing on people's health concerns for pure financial gain.

As I say, if Apple genuinely cared, there is nothing on this planet stopping them from building lower priced hardware that incorporated all the health benefit items they are promoting, even if this lacked many of the other not needed features for health.

Hardly know where to begin with this rant. First, how is health kit going to create profits? I'd surely like to know, since I do research and haven't made a dime doing it (other than making a modest salary). Second, I presume you favour nationalised medicine so that companies cannot profiteer from fears over health (I do FWIW), but I suspect Health kit will allow us to advance preventative medicine. Isn't that a good thing?

 

[doc james]

In my professional opinion, this is still a long way from being anything other than hyperbole.

1) Research kit gathers one type of data: activity. Yes, Apple will tell us how all the sensors act together etc. etc. but to be honest, we haven't been sitting around for years thinking we could cure cancer if only our patients were fitted with accelerometers. This advance may be helpful for activity-based research but that represents a relatively small area of medical research (as does any one area - I'm not bemoaning it).

2) Before anything can be done with it, the findings will need to be validated against the standards we're already using (diaries, questionnaires, gym tests etc.)

3) I absolutely would not accept research that was performed only in a population who owned iPhones: there is too much confounding going on there. Even open source, smart phone owners are a small cohort of those experiencing health problems. I don't work with a particularly impoverished population, but I'd say most of the phones I see in clinic are Nokia 3110s. And from experience of phones ringing during the clinic appointment, my patients, even "smart"phone users, don't know how to reject a call, let alone divert it to voicemail. They will not be using health kit.

4) I'm UK based but I'm aware of how the US differs and I can see reward based research being problematic. I mean, many people would fill in a questionnaire just to skip 10 levels in Candy Crush wouldn't they? Let alone...

5) The marketing men are potentially going to have a ball. Let's be clear - buying an iPhone does not guarantee you good health, nor does it suddenly make you a philanthropist. I hope I'm wrong but I don't see anyone over 60 who contributes to research kit seeing any result in their lifetime.

I'm an Apple fan but I'm also a healthy cynic and I see this as being a very cheap way (health kit has cost essentially nothing) of softening the image of a highly profitable company with an aggressive marketing department such that they might weather anti-capitalism assaults against them.