Medical startup Scanaduinformed customers todayit will no longer support its Scout device commence May 15, 2017.
The reason? Though Scanadu has been working with the Food and Drug Administration to get full approving for this and other devices, it seems Scout didnt make the cut.
Scanadu utilized Scout, which could detect vitals such as temperature andupload that information to a smartphone, as a preliminary device for medical research. The device could also send gathered information from an app to your doctor.
While theres no term yet from the FDA as to why it ordered Scanadu to shut down support for Scout, it could be because of the highly sensitive nature of the information change over cellphones.
Scanadu came out of the X Prize FoundationsQualcomm Tricordercompetition, but soon violated an Indiegogo record, raising more than $1.6 million in less than a month for the Scout, a medical device that could check for heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature.
The letter sent to Scout advocates talks about the startups commitment to continue bringing innovative technologies to consumers.
Thank you for your dedication to Scanadu Scout over the past years. We have learned a lot from your utilization data and feedback. The success of such projects wouldnt have been possible without you, the letter reads.
But it is the collection of that data without anything in return that has triggered a lot of indignation in those whove bought and supported the use of Scout.
Another user, long time supporter Dr. David Fraser wrote TechCrunch in an email, They basically took our money, took our data, took the learnings from the process and dumped the very backers who got them started. No recompense , no future trade-up voucher, nada!
Weve reached out to Scanadu for remark and are waiting to hear back.
