Rune Labs gets FDA clearance to use Apple Watch to track Parkinson's symptoms

FILE PHOTO: An Apple Store employee shows the Series 5 Apple Watch during the preview of the redesigned and reimagined Apple Fifth Avenue store in New York, U.S., September 19, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

(Reuters) - San Francisco-based startup Rune Labs on Monday said it has received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to use the Apple Watch to monitor tremors and other common symptoms in patients with Parkinson’s disease.

The Rune Labs software uses the motion sensors built into the Apple Watch, which can already be used to detect when a person falls. Rune Labs Chief Executive Brian Pepin told Reuters in an interview the Apple Watch data will be combined with data from other sources, including a Medtronic implant that can measure brain signals.