Carrot has obtained a 510(k) license to use its Pivot sensor to quit smoking. It measures the level of carbon monoxide in the human breath.Photo Credit: Carrot
Carrot, a digital health startup, has received regulatory approval to allow patients to use its smoking cessation device without the supervision of a doctor. The Redwood, California-based company makes a household device called Pivot that can measure carbon monoxide in a person’s breath. When a person smokes, the carbon monoxide enters the bloodstream.
Based on these device data, the company established a digital health plan that includes real-time feedback, text-based guidance, and nicotine replacement therapy delivered to patients’ homes. It has also established partnerships with a number of health plans, including New York Life and North Carolina’s BlueCross BlueShield.
Part of the company’s goal is to make it easier to quit smoking, rather than a daunting, all-or-nothing process.
The expanded indications are based on Single-arm, open-label research 234 people smoke. They used the device for 12 weeks and filled out questionnaires about their attitudes towards smoking cessation and smoking behavior.
By the end of the study, less than half of the participants stated that they planned to quit smoking next month, compared with about 15% at the beginning of the study. Approximately 55% of participants’ motivations remained the same, regardless of whether they planned to quit smoking or not.
Approximately 48% of people said that they tried to quit smoking after 12 weeks, and the number of cigarettes consumed per day was about 41% less than when the study started. But more rigorous data is needed to prove that Carrot’s equipment has a meaningful impact on people’s health. Long-term smoking behavior. Some future steps include randomized controlled trials and long-term studies that track people’s results.
