Two huge health-related groups are joining forces to help find solutions to the growing problem of cardiovascular disease.
Life Sciences under Alphabet, a tech holdings conglomerate that includes Google, and American Heart Association (AHA) has decided to pool together $50 million to fund projects that are related to the diagnosis, treatment, and management of different kinds of cardiovascular disease. The partnership is revealed during the annual scientific of AHA in Orlando, Florida, which began on Saturday, Nov 7. It's expected to run until Wednesday, Nov 11.
Each of the parties will raise $25 million, and the money will be given to a single selected team composed of highly qualified professionals such as scientists, doctors, and engineers who excel in their field of expertise. Life Sciences and AHA have also selected their respective leaders who will then convene and choose the head of the initiative, which will begin sometime next year.
According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), heart disease is one of the leading causes of death in the United States with at least one in every four deaths attributable to it. About 700,000 men and women, meanwhile, will suffer from a heart attack while at least 370,000 will be diagnosed with coronary artery disease (CAD) every year. CAD is characterized by arterial stenosis or the narrowing of the arteries caused by the buildup of plaque (cholesterol deposits). Common risk factors of heart disease include obesity, sedimentary lifestyle, poor diet, diabetes, and excessive consumption of alcohol.
The collaboration makes sense for Life Sciences unit, which has been working on a variety of health-related projects over the last few years. Together with Novartis who licensed the technology, the unit is now creating an innovative contact lens that can monitor glucose levels non-intrusively and send the data to a linked device for easier and quicker tracking. They are also embarking on an ambitious study called Baseline Study, which hopes to create a profile of a healthy person using information on different physical and genetic traits.