Innovation by Entelos

Entelos, Inc., is a leader in bringing simulation technology to life science research. For over 10 years, we have been building PhysioLab® simulators of patients with chronic disease and using those simulators to help develop new therapies. PhysioLab simulators are like flight simulators for the body, allowing researchers to test out new medicines in the computer well before they are tested in patients, increasing their success and speed in developing new medicines. We believe it is time for this technology to move out of the research lab and into the hands of physicians and patients, allowing them to get the same benefits as the research community.

A key part of the PhysioLab technology is the ability to simulate in the computer what is happening in a person. Since that person in the computer isn't flesh and blood but is instead computer bits, we call it a virtual person or virtual patient. In order to test medications in the simulator, we make many virtual people -- even thousands -- so we can understand how a medication will work in many different kinds of real people in the real world. The PhysioLab simulators can include real world conditions such as people's physiology, lifestyles, and medications they are taking. Our virtual people are like crash test dummies for medications -- we can test them time and time again until we come up with the right treatment for the any given patient.

In MyDigitalHealth, we will be using those virtual people to create a personal health simulation to understand what might be happening inside your body. We find the virtual people that look most like you and then see what kinds of health risks they may have and test them to see how those risks change with different lifestyle changes -- for example, different diets or exercise routines -- as well as medications. We will use this information to help you understand your own health risks, set goals for managing those risks, and make a plan to achieve your goals, and then we'll coach you to help in achieving your goals. This is the essence of Know. Act. Achieve.^TM

For a sneak peek of what MyDigitalHealth may look like, see A Personal Story. This story is about cardiovascular risk and uses the Entelos Cardiovascular PhysioLab computer simulation model. Entelos has expertise in a number of other disease areas including diabetes, obesity, asthma, and rheumatoid arthritis and we continue to add new areas of expertise. For more information about Entelos and the technology behind MyDigitalHealth, go to www.entelos.com.

Representing Biological Networks

PhysioLab simulators are built with a network in the computer describing the dynamic, interconnected physiology that occurs inside the human body -- how the various parts of your biology work together. That physiology can change if you develop a disease, take medications, or make certain lifestyle changes.

Our human simulators are built by life scientists and engineers and are based on the same rigorous engineering principles that have been applied to dynamic, complex systems controlling flight in rockets and airplanes, movement in automobiles, and structural strength and stability in bridges and buildings.

Simulating Virtual People

Virtual people are created starting with the same network but then introducing changes that represent the genetic or environmental changes that have affected their physiology. PhysioLab technology allows thousands of virtual people to be created and simulated to help in designing large scale research trials -- or finding the right virtual people to represent your personal health simulation.