Alphabet’s Verily teams up with ResMed to tackle sleep apnea

The healthcare-based subsidiary of Alphabet (GOOGL), Verily, and medical equipment company ResMed (RMD) will join forces to form a JV that will focus on the treatment of sleep apnea and other sleep-related breathing disorders. The partnership aims to create a software that helps in detecting, diagnosing and treating the potentially serious types of sleep disorders.

Verily has entered into several partnerships ever since it became an independent subsidiary of Alphabet in 2015, including pharma giants Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Sanofi, and Gilead Sciences (GILD). Verily now aims at getting more initiatives into hospitals. Hence, the unit has strengthened its leadership team and has appointed several industry experts to its Board.

The latest JV will combine ResMed’s sleep expertise and Verily’s advanced health data analytics technologies to study the health and financial impacts of undiagnosed and untreated sleep apnea. ResMed has spent years researching sleep apnea, which is a significant health issue in the US. This disorder is said to affect nearly 22 million Americans, most of which remain undiagnosed.

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Verily has several promising ongoing projects including controlling the spread of Zika virus, developing glucose-monitoring contact lenses, creating wristbands that helps spot indicators of cancer and heart diseases and many more.