Linus Health grows in dementia with Together acquisition

Linus Health, a specialist in digital detection of dementia, has expanded its focus to include the treatment of patients with the acquisition of Together Senior Health.

Linus has built its business developing digital brain health monitoring technologies based on artificial intelligence, designed to spot diseases like Alzheimer's before symptoms develop and allow earlier treatment.

In 2022, it added to its toolkit with machine learning-powered wearable sensors when it bought Kinesis Health, layering in the ability to monitor physical indicators of failing cognitive health like fall risk, and earlier this year snapped up Aural Analytics, which diagnoses cognitive impairments from speech patterns.

The acquisition of Together can be viewed as taking Linus in a slightly different direction. It is the creator of the Moving Together programme, a virtual therapy that combines movement, mindful body awareness, music, and social interaction exercises delivered via live-streaming classes.

Moving Together is designed to help people with dementia take steps to manage and slow their cognitive decline, and is the product of more than 10 years of research at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

It aims to help people on the path to dementia stay healthy and independent for longer, and crucially maintain connections with others to reduce social isolation – a well-documented risk factor for cognitive decline.

In a clinical trial published in Alzheimer's & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions – a journal of the Alzheimer's Association in the US – Moving Together demonstrated significant improvements in quality of life for dementia patients and a substantial reduction in caregiver stress. Patients also experienced a 30% decrease in falls.

Meanwhile, Together also complements Linus' diagnostic capabilities, as it also features an algorithm called RADAR (Risk of Alzheimer's and Dementia AlgoRithm) that can be used to spot people at high risk for undiagnosed cognitive decline, Alzheimer's disease, and dementia from healthcare claims, electronic health records, and other relevant data.

"Together Senior Health joining Linus Health is an ideal fit because both of our platforms are designed to detect and slow cognitive decline through personalised, lifestyle-focused interventions," said Together's co-founder and chief science advisor, Deborah Barnes, who will serve as a consultant to Linus.

Combining their platforms "will lead to many more people maintaining their cognitive function and independence for longer, reducing emergency department visits, and improving the well-being of individuals with cognitive decline and their care partners," she added.