HERE+NOW.IMPULSE MAGAZINE // Special Edition 2019

MARKET OF THE FUTURE HEALTH AND MEDICINE
“Our location in Magdeburg
is ideal for us. We have
good links with the university
management and are
supported by the ministries
in the federal state. The
close cooperation with the
university is indispensable,
especially for spin-offs from
the world of science and
academic research.”
DR. CHRIS REHSE
At the start of the assessment period, a profile
of the user is created in which risk factors
such as high blood pressure or diabetes are
recorded. While the intervals between the tests
are relatively narrow at the beginning, they
subsequently increase to two times a month.
As it won’t just be possible to slow Alzheimer’s
disease down in the future but it can also be influenced
by lifestyle changes, the app provides
advice on the modification of risk factors, such
as diet or exercise behaviour. “Our app is a kind
of blood pressure monitor for the brain. A oneoff
test is always a snapshot which provides
little information. It is only long-term monitoring
which can support the diagnostic conclusions
in a meaningful way. We want to use
the software to provide doctors with a source
of help, because the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s
often involves uncertainty and many patients
fall through the cracks,” explains Chris Rehse.
To prevent the possible misuse of sensitive
data, there is a sophisticated data protection
concept. Although anyone can download the
app, only a specially chosen research institution
is authorised to evaluate the personal data.
Despite this, however, due to an anonymisation
procedure within the app, neotiv is not able to
connect the collected data with the names of
the users at any point in time.
At present, the use of the app is still
being researched, and is currently being
used by a few hundred people in the USA and
Sweden, for example. Furthermore, at the
beginning of 2019, neotiv launched a citizen
research project together with the German
Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE)
and Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg.
In this respect, citizens actively contribute to
a superior understanding of the influence of
certain lifestyle factors, such as sleep or stress,
on memory function. According to Chris Rehse,
the digital biomarkers developed by neotiv are
set to become the standard in international
dementia diagnostics and therapy in the future.
The objective is to integrate the neotiv app into
the general care system.
“Right now, we still have a lot of educational
work to do. Alzheimer’s disease is subject to a
strong stigma. We would therefore like to contribute
to clarifying the possibilities for prevention
and developing new methods of therapy”,
explains the Managing Director of neotiv.
As a spin-off from the University of
Magdeburg, neotiv has direct access to
the world of science. Its close collaboration with
the Institute for Cognitive Neurology and Dementia
Research (IKND) there and its cooperation
with the DZNE have enabled neotiv to draw
on the support of two internationally acknowledged
research institutions, both of which are
based in the capital of the federal state.
“Our location in Magdeburg is ideal for us. We
have excellent links with the university management
and are supported by the ministries in
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