No stethoscope needed: This wearable device is helping lung patients track symptoms

When Nick Delmonico was growing up with asthma, he had to describe his own symptoms so his doctor could determine the best path forward. That’s just how it worked; doctors largely relied on patients telling them how they felt to determine treatment.

Now the CEO and cofounder of Philadelphia startup Strados Labs, Delmonico works to improve the way lung symptoms are communicated, using biosensor technology.

“Currently, there is a significant gap in how we monitor and understand respiratory health,” Delmonico told Technical.ly. “Clinicians rely on tools like the stethoscope — which only gives them a few seconds of information during an in-person visit — and on patients trying to remember and report how they’ve been feeling.”

With a better way to track how patients are doing after they leave the hospital or clinic, healthcare providers might be able to intervene earlier, he said, potentially resulting in fewer readmissions and better outcomes overall.

Strados developed the RESP Biosensor, an FDA 510(k)-cleared wearable device that allows researchers and clinicians to remotely capture lung sounds between in-person clinical visits. 

The product is a wearable device that adheres to the chest. In real time, it records lung sound data and securely transfers it to a mobile app and the Strados cloud, where the sound data can be remotely identified by machine learning algorithms. The reports it generates show every cough, wheeze and crackle of the lungs, with timestamps. 

“It gives a much clearer picture of what’s actually happening with a patient’s respiratory health over time,” Delmonico said. “This type of information can make a significant impact in healthcare to manage at-risk patients as well as in drug development to understand treatment efficacy.”

From hackathon to product

The Strados team was formed at a health hackathon hosted by Independence Blue Cross and Thomas Jefferson University in 2016.

Delmonico, who had previously worked in accounting and finance in the corporate sector before entering an MBA program at Temple University in healthcare management in 2015, had an idea for a wearable device, but he didn’t know if it could work. The hackathon was an opportunity to put it to the test.

“Going to the hackathon felt like the perfect environment to bring it to life — fast-paced, collaborative, and full of people who weren’t afraid to challenge assumptions,” Delmonico said. “We wanted to know: could we really capture lung sounds in a meaningful, clinical way with a wearable?”

That weekend, he says, gave them their first proof point that they weren’t “crazy for trying.” Strados was founded by Delmonico and cofounder and current chief product officer Richard Powers, previously the CIO of medical device company Endotronix.

Helping pharmaceutical companies gain insights

The goal for the RESP Biosensor has always been to get them to clinics for use by patients between appointments. It’s not there yet, but the product is making an impact in pharmaceutical clinical trials by helping relevant medical treatments get closer to approval when they have to demonstrate the effectiveness of the treatment.

“Right now, we’re really excited about how our technology is helping pharmaceutical companies gain deeper insights into how their therapies are impacting patients in clinical trials,” Delmonico said. “For conditions like chronic cough, asthma and COPD — where new treatments are desperately needed — not only is survival important, but so is improving patients’ quality of life.”

A healthtech startup from the ground up

As with any heathtech product, developing the RESP Biosensor requires a lot of funding, and a lot of clearances.

In 2022, it raised $4.5 million in pre-Series A funding and were awarded a National Science Foundation grant for close to $1 million. In all, according to available PitchBook data, Strados has raised $11.23 million and has a valuation of $18.32 million. 

The big barriers were getting FDA clearances, Gabe Steerman, marketing manager for Strados, told Technical.ly. There are clearances for use in the US and Europe, which it received in 2020 and 2021. Another clearance, received in 2022, allows patients to use the device at home, making clinical trials possible.  

Bringing the device to clinical practice, where patients who are not involved with clinical trials can use it to communicate data to their healthcare providers, is a step the team anticipates as they look ahead.

“Chronic respiratory diseases are notoriously tough to manage,” Delmonico said. “We believe our technology can fill that gap, helping healthcare providers make more informed decisions and ultimately improve patient care.”