In Blog, Diabetes Accessories, Diabetes in the News

Diabetes News: Is Google Turning its Eye to Diabetes Care?

Google diabetes careAt Timesulin, we have very personal reasons for doing what we do – we understand the daily challenges of living with diabetes and we want simple, technological solutions that solve some of problems we face. But it’s not every day that you see a popular tech giant focusing on technology designed for the diabetes community. Yet according to the latest diabetes news, that’s exactly what Google – the enormous Silicon Valley based tech firm – is doing.

Earlier this year Google announced a new project through its innovation arm, Google X lab, which would use a contact lens equipped with tens of thousands of tiny transistors to measure glucose in tears and wirelessly transmit that data to a handheld device. In layman’s terms, that means that instead of having to prick your finger, draw blood, and test it using a blood glucose monitor, Google’s contact lens would continuously monitor your BGL and wirelessly transmit that data to your BGM without any disruption.

This is huge news for the diabetes community since it would drastically change the face of diabetes management. Even the board chair of the ADA chimed in saying he’s happy that creative scientists are looking for ways to improve diabetes management, but warned that a strong focus on making sure the data collected was completely accurate is a high priority, since that information dictates how much insulin a person needs to take.

The only major downside at the moment is that this technology is still in the developmental phase and will likely take another five years or so to reach the consumer market. There are other companies outside of the U.S. that are trying to make a similar product available to consumers – NovioSense, which is based in the Netherlands and will begin clinical trials later this year.

The pace of medical technology is moving incredibly fast, and the fact that a greater number of companies has recognized that there a lot of improvements to be made in diabetes care and management is very exciting. Hopefully more companies will recognize the opportunities that exist to make diabetes care better, safer, and more manageable, like we’ve done with our timer-enabled insulin pen replacement cap.

What do you think diabetes care will look like in five or ten years? Let us know in the comments!

 

Timesulin Blog

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