The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning letter to fitness tracker company Whoop, alleging the company is illegally marketing its Blood Pressure Insights feature without proper medical device approvals. Despite the regulatory action, Whoop announced the feature remains available to subscribers while the company contests the FDA's position.
Regulatory Dispute Over Blood Pressure Monitoring
The FDA's warning letter, published Tuesday, targets Whoop's Blood Pressure Insights (BPI) feature, which was introduced alongside the company's latest hardware launch in May. The feature is exclusively available to users of Whoop's premium "Life" subscription tier, priced at $359 annually, and works with the company's "Medical Grade" (MG) device.
According to the FDA, Whoop's BPI feature is "intended to diagnose, cure, treat or prevent disease," which would reclassify the wellness tracker as a medical device requiring rigorous testing and approval processes. "Providing blood pressure estimation is not a low-risk function," the FDA stated in the letter. "An erroneously low or high blood pressure reading can have significant consequences for the user."
The agency emphasized that measuring and reporting blood pressure is "inherently associated with the diagnosis of hypo- and hypertension, and is therefore intended for use in the diagnosis of a disease or other condition, or in the cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease."
Whoop's Defense and Technical Specifications
Whoop has pushed back against the FDA's characterization, arguing that the agency is "overstepping its authority in this case by attempting to regulate a non-medical wellness feature as a medical device." The company maintains that its BPI feature differs significantly from traditional medical blood pressure devices.
According to a Whoop spokesperson, the system provides only a single daily estimated range and midpoint, distinguishing it from medical blood pressure devices used for diagnosis or management of hypertension. The feature requires users to log three traditional cuff readings to establish a baseline before unlocking BPI functionality.
"We do not believe blood pressure should be considered any more or less sensitive than other physiological metrics like heart rate and respiratory rate," a Whoop spokesperson said. "It appears that the FDA's concerns may stem from outdated assumptions about blood pressure being strictly a clinical domain and inherently associated with a medical diagnosis."
Clinical Perspective and Industry Context
Dr. Ian Kronish, an internist and co-director of Columbia University's Hypertension Center, highlighted the significance of the regulatory dispute. "Wearables like Whoop are a big emerging topic of conversation among hypertension experts, in part because there's concern that these devices are not yet proven to be accurate," Kronish told CNBC.
High blood pressure represents the number one risk factor for heart attacks, strokes, and other cardiovascular diseases, making accuracy in monitoring critical for patient care. If patients don't receive accurate blood pressure readings, they cannot make informed decisions about necessary medical care.
However, Kronish also acknowledged the potential benefits, describing wearables as presenting a "big opportunity" for patients to take more control over their health, with many healthcare professionals excited to work with these technologies.
Broader Industry Implications
Whoop is not alone in exploring blood pressure monitoring capabilities. Omron and Garmin both offer medical blood pressure monitoring with on-demand readings that fall under FDA regulation. Samsung provides blood-pressure-reading technology, though it remains unavailable in the U.S. market. Apple has been developing blood pressure sensor technology for its watches but has not yet delivered this capability.
The regulatory action against Whoop could have significant financial implications for the company's premium subscription model. The Life membership's primary differentiators include three features: ECG readings, irregular heart rhythm notifications, and Blood Pressure Insights. With irregular heart rhythm notifications unavailable in the U.S. and Blood Pressure Insights now under regulatory scrutiny, subscribers would essentially pay an additional $120 annually primarily for ECG functionality.
Regulatory Timeline and Consequences
The FDA has given Whoop 15 business days to respond with steps the company has taken to address the identified violations and prevent similar issues. The agency warned that Whoop could face regulatory actions including seizure, injunction, and civil money penalties if it fails to address the violations.
The FDA dismissed Whoop's disclaimers as insufficient, stating they "do not change this conclusion, because they are insufficient to outweigh the fact that the product is, by design, intended to provide a blood pressure estimation that is inherently associated with the diagnosis of a disease or condition."
As the dispute continues, the case represents a significant test of regulatory boundaries in the rapidly evolving wearable technology sector, with implications extending beyond Whoop to other companies developing similar health monitoring capabilities.
