Aktiia’s blood pressure monitoring wearable, now available in Canada, has previously been available in seven European markets. Image credit: Shutterstock/New Africa.

Aktiia’s continuous blood pressure monitoring (CBPM) bracelet has gained approval from Health Canada and launched in the country in a move representing the company’s first market expansion outside of Europe.

Of the market launch in Canada, Aktiia CEO Raghav Gupta said the country’s collaborative healthcare environment was ideally positioned to integrate innovative products into the healthcare ecosystem.

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“By bringing our technology to Canada, we’re making it easier for millions of people to take control of their cardiovascular health through continuous, hassle-free monitoring,” Gupta said.

“Canada has offered Aktiia smooth pathways for product adoption, clinical trials, and partnerships with healthcare providers across the country.”

The Swiss health tech’s bracelet, which received a CE mark in Europe in 2021, uses optical sensors and algorithms to measure blood pressure through Optical Blood Pressure Monitoring (OBPM), which involves analysing subtle changes in the diameter of arteries with each heartbeat. Automatic blood pressure readings can be taken 24/7, whether wearers are awake or asleep, providing up to 800 measurements each month to understand what impacts blood pressure.

Insights gained from the readings can be shared with doctors through the bracelet’s companion app, which provides tracking, analysis, and real-time data sharing capabilities, to help give a deeper understanding on the potential impact of medication or lifestyle changes on users’ health.

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Aktiia chief medical officer Dr Jay Shah commented: “Traditional blood pressure cuff monitoring can be intrusive and often lead to incomplete or inaccurate readings due to factors like white coat syndrome, which affects up to 30% of patients.

“Aktiia’s bracelet provides a much more complete picture of a user’s blood pressure patterns, enabling better-informed healthcare decisions and improved outcomes.”

Aktiia was founded in Switzerland in 2018. To date, the company has raised almost $22m in seed financing.

A report by GlobalData indicates that 40 blood pressure monitoring devices were in active stages of development globally as of April 2024.

Elsewhere in blood pressure monitoring, Omron Healthcare recently secured de novo authorisation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the IntelliSense atrial fibriliation (AFib), a new home blood pressure monitor with an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered AFib detection feature.

According to GlobalData analysis, the device sets Omron apart from other companies offering similar monitoring devices to consumers, due to its medical-grade accuracy and healthcare-specific focus, addressing the unique demands of clinical-grade monitoring for chronic disease prevention.