Apple Has a Secret Team Working On Non-Invasive Diabetes Sensors (cnbc.com)

schwit1 quotes a report from CNBC: Apple has hired a small team of biomedical engineers to work at a nondescript office in Palo Alto, miles from corporate headquarters. They are part of a super secret initiative, initially envisioned by the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, to develop sensors that can non-invasively and continuously monitor blood sugar levels to better treat diabetes, according to three people familiar with the matter. Such a breakthrough would be a "holy grail" for life sciences. Many life sciences companies have tried and failed, as it's highly challenging to track glucose levels accurately without piercing the skin. The initiative is far enough along that Apple has been conducting feasibility trials at clinical sites across the Bay Area and has hired consultants to help it figure out the regulatory pathways, the people said.

schwit1 adds: "From a business aspect, the most interesting part of this venture might be how Apple combines its penchant for secrecy with maneuvering through those regulatory pathways. It's one thing to introduce another new bit of consumer electronics kit. It's an entirely other thing to get a medical device past the FDA."

Comments

What about the delivery of insulin?

[Anonymous Coward]

One would either have to have a pump installed, which pierces the skin, or give themselves injections. In actuality, this does nothing for type 1 patients. Holy Grail, I think not.

Re: What about the delivery of insulin?

[Anonymous Coward]

You have to separate Type 2 diabetes (which is insulin resistance, and 20 times more common) and Type 1 diabetes (which is usually an auto-immune problem that destroys all insulin producing cells). The "cure" for most Type 2 diabetes is weight loss, exercise, and diet. Many cases require medication: many of those are fat Americans. I don't blame them for winding up that way: insulin resistance is the basic problem, so early onset Type 2 diabetics wind up with very high insulin levels, which causes hunger, and the rising blood sugars can cause lethargy, which is a nasty feedback loop, and makes weight gain a *symptom* of Type 2, not a necessarily a *cause* of Type 2. So I'm not fat shaming here. But I'm saying "you can save a lot of money on glucose test strips by not spending money on Twinkies".

For Type 1 cures, check out http://www.faustmanlab.org/research/BCGTrials.html . The results are very promising.

It's not about manouvering on this one

[xaxiomaticx]

Turns out this is a really really hard engineering problem to solve and it has been tried so many times before. There's a guy who even mqaintains a book on the subject. http://www.mendosa.com/The%20Pursuit%20of%20Noninvsive%20Glucose,%20Fourth%20Edition.pdf I wish them luck. It's a great challange and it will benefit a lot of people if they manage to pull it off.