Empatica has launched WellPD, a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-cleared and CE-marked wearable system developed to monitor Parkinson’s disease symptoms in home environments.
The product is commercially available to order across various countries, including Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Spain and the US.
It pairs a wrist-worn unit with a mobile companion application to capture physical movement alongside other physiological signals.
Clinically validated algorithms convert these recorded measurements into assessments of activity, sleep, and motor symptoms, including bradykinesia, dyskinesia, and tremor.
Empatica stated that users can log their medication within the application to examine how physical responses correlate with dosing schedules, such as movement alterations or sleep disruptions.
Since Parkinson’s symptoms often fluctuate from hour to hour as medication takes effect or wanes, patients can find it difficult to recall the timing, duration, and everyday impact of these shifts during clinical appointments.
To address this, the application compiles daily summaries, enabling patients to track variations without relying on personal memory or written logs.
The data provides caregivers with additional insights to support patients, while equipping clinicians with supplemental context regarding symptom behaviours between consultations.
Empatica CEO and co-founder Matteo Lai said: “Empatica was founded on the belief that technology should be friendly, caring, and more human.
“With WellPD, we’re bringing years of work in wearable technology and Parkinson’s research into a comfortable device that can be worn at home, giving people with Parkinson’s and their families access to daily health information they can understand and share with their care teams.”
Development of the device integrates Empatica’s medical hardware experience with Parkinson’s capabilities obtained through its 2025 acquisition of PKG Health.
Supported by more than 70 peer-reviewed publications, the PKG algorithms are utilised in over 150 clinical centres and hospitals worldwide.
Furthermore, academic institutions, pharmaceutical companies, and teaching hospitals employ the underlying technology to investigate disease progression, evaluate therapy response, and establish digital measures during clinical trials.
Beyond Parkinson’s management, Empatica develops continuous remote health monitoring tools and medical wearables to support research, trials, and patient care across other therapeutic fields, including epilepsy.
