Global wearables brand Fitbit has agreed to acquire health coaching platform, Twine Health, for an undisclosed sum.

Twine Health is a HIPAA-compliant connected health platform, which enables people to manage chronic conditions such as diabetes and hypertension, as well as helps in weight loss and smoking cessation.

Twine Health platform enables single coach to work with multiple patients, helping them to achieve better health outcomes.

The acquisition will allow Fitbit to expand its offerings to health plans, health systems and self-insured employers, in addition to increasing subscription-based revenue.

Twine Health was established in 2013 by John Moore, Frank Moss and Scott Gilroy. It developed the platform based on years of behavior change and clinical research carried out at the MIT Media Lab.

The platform uses a combination of artificial intelligence-driven insights and human interaction to deliver positive health outcomes.

The randomized controlled trials carried out by healthcare facilities such as Massachusetts General Hospital and the Joslin Diabetes Center demonstrated that the foundational behavior change principles behind Twine Health’s technology helped drive statistically significant improvements in both diabetes and hypertension management.

Fitbit co-founder and CEO James Park said: “Twine Health has delivered powerful results for patients managing conditions like diabetes and hypertension – two key focus areas for Fitbit, which together affect approximately 105 million people in the U.S. alone.”

Twine Health co-founder and CEO Dr Moore said: “We built Twine Health with the goal of putting people back at the center of their care, helping them take ownership of their health actions and outcomes with the continuous support of both clinicians and loved one.”

In September 2017, DexCom collaborated with Fitbit to develop and commercialise easy-to-use mobile tools for patients to better manage their diabetes.

The partnership will incorporate Dexcom continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) data with Fitbit Ionic smartwatch.

Image: Fitbit Coach App screen. Photo: courtesy of Fitbit Inc.