SF startup creates cutting-edge technology for monitoring blood pressure in real-time
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What is Vital Signals’ smart ring and how does it differ from other wearables?
Nearly half of adults in the U.S. deal with high blood pressure. And now a San Francisco-based startup company, Vital Signals, is pioneering some new tech that could improve real-time blood pressure monitoring. We're joined live on the KCBS, a ring central newsline by Bloomberg editor Dana Woolman. Thank you so much for being with us this afternoon. Thank you for having me. Absolutely. So Dana, tell us about this new tech.
So this is a very specific smart ring, really marketed toward people who either know they have hypertension or high blood pressure or know that they're at risk of it, which it turns out is a lot of us. And it's different, technically speaking, from other wearables in a couple different ways. One, it shows you actual readings, the systolic and distolic um numbers. Those are the um upper and lower numbers when you take a typical blood pressure.
How does the ring provide actual systolic and diastolic readings without a cuff?
Sure. Um just for context, and I'm not trying to pick on Apple here, but just to give you a comparison to a really big name competitor, you have some companies like Apple where um on the Apple Watch, it does do some approximation of how you're doing on blood pressure, but really what it's showing you are trends, not exact numbers. And then you have some other brands like Samsung and Whoop that do attempt to approximate the actual numbers, but they there's a big caveat, which is that at once a month, um and certainly to start, you have to calibrate the numbers using a traditional blood pressure cuff. So in a way they're sort of deferring to the traditional blood pressure cuff. and outsourcing that responsibility to it to make sure that the numbers are more or less accurate, at least in the right ballpark.
This ring here doesn't require a cuff at any point in the process and it is giving you um actual numbers and it's monitoring throughout the day. So that number will shift throughout the day and you can sort of map it against habits you might have, like um a tendency to have three cups of coffee in the morning, or maybe you had a stressful interaction with your spouse at some point. So it gives you data to help you um understand those numbers and isn't just giving you a number once a day and trying to um wrap your whole day into that one number.
Why can’t the consumer ring be used for medical diagnosis yet?
So I I'm kinda confused. Is this actually taking your blood pressure through the ring?
It is it has sensors. So it is um it is giving you um essentially a blood pressure exam. And it is sort of similar to a regular blood pressure exam. It it is having you sit still, it is coaching you on even your posture, um, it's telling you to stop moving at points, factors that really could normally sway. Um a reading and it it it is attempting to replace that process. I should say that this ring, the consumer ring that will ship in October, it is stopping short of making a diagnosis for a person, which is true of a lot of wearables out there. Um there are a lot of wearables now that are Increasingly blurring the lines between a consumer wellness gadget and a medical device. And many of them do stop short of diagnosing a medical condition.
What is the expected price and availability timeline for the consumer version?
They'll say, this is not for diagnostic purposes. You should really should consult with a doctor. And that is true of this consumer device here. The company is working with the FDA on a different medical grade version of the device that, in theory, would be able to make diagnoses. The company isn't saying how far along those negotiations. with the FDAR or when that product might in fact hit the market.
Wow, that's really amazing. What does something like this cost?
So the consumer version is uh will sell for three ninety nine. Um, when it goes on sale, when it becomes available in the fall. People can pre-order it now, but it's not actually going to arrive on people's doorsteps until the fall.
And I found um when I read your story, the founder of this company, it's an interesting backstory.
How did the founder’s personal hypertension experience shape the company’s mission?
Um, yeah, so he was in tech, not in health tech um specifically. He's um he told us he's 47, soon turning 48. Um, and he was at one point diagnosed with hypertension. And I think, as a lot of people would be, he was alarmed by the implications of that.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is Vital Signals’ smart ring and how does it differ from other wearables?
0:00–0:53
2
How does the ring provide actual systolic and diastolic readings without a cuff?
0:53–2:09
3
Why can’t the consumer ring be used for medical diagnosis yet?
2:09–2:59
4
What is the expected price and availability timeline for the consumer version?
2:59–3:44
5
How did the founder’s personal hypertension experience shape the company’s mission?
3:44–4:40
6
What are the advantages of continuous ring monitoring over traditional cuff snapshots?
4:40–5:52
Speakers
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