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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."

15 of 94 comments (clear)

  1. What about the delivery of insulin? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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.

    1. Re: What about the delivery of insulin? by corychristison · · Score: 2

      No kidding.

      We already have CGMs that are getting less and less invasive already.

      My son is 7, diagnosed T1D about a year and a half ago.

      How about we work towards a cure instead of blowing money on problems that have already been solved?

    2. Re: What about the delivery of insulin? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      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.

    3. Re:What about the delivery of insulin? by Junta · · Score: 3, Informative

      Well at least it would mean not having to burn through lancets and strips. If a monitor that did not consume test scripts cost 300 dollars and lasted at least six months, it would have paid for itself in test strips alone.

      For at least some type IIs controlling with medication, having continuous monitoring may help them when they over medicate and give them some heads up when their sugar is crashing.

      Of course, healthy skepticism about Apple actually pulling it off, but it's far from the worst thing Apple could do.

      --
      XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
    4. Re: What about the delivery of insulin? by willy_me · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If what they say is true, this monitor would be in the form of a watch (or something similar) and be able to monitor blood sugar levels automatically. The user would then be alerted in the event they need to take action. Alerts would be provided immediately and not depend on an individual having to test themselves. Solves the problem of people forgetting to take their insulin. This differs from current CGMs and could legitimately be called an advancement - if it ever works.

    5. Re: What about the delivery of insulin? by damnbunni · · Score: 2

      The problem with current-generation CGM is that they require expensive consumables that a lot of insurance doesn't cover.

      If they could get a sensor working without penetrating the skin, without requiring supplies that get used up, that would be a massive boon, even if the sensor cost a few grand.

    6. Re: What about the delivery of insulin? by corychristison · · Score: 2

      You're a fucking idiot. My son has an auto-immune disease, not because he eat too many carbs.

      Please learn the difference between Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes. He's in perfect health, and always has been. Can't control when your body decides to kill off it's own insulin producing cells.

  2. That old chestnut by SuperKendall · · Score: 3, Informative

    Already debunked

    Only a moron who doesn't understand how floating point numbers work would think anything was odd about that example. What are you even doing on Slashdot if you cannot work with simple floating point?

    I mean, an AC can understand what is going on with that code and you can't?

    SHAME SHAME SHAME

    You're a PHP programmer, aren't you - admit it. Go back to "hacker" news.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  3. Re:Proof in the Numbers by fermion · · Score: 2

    2+2=5 for sufficiently high values of 2. Had a friend once who was getting a masters degree in math. If any student responded to 1+1 with an answer of two was ridiculed. I do the same thing with high school student in digital electronics class.

    --
    "She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
  4. Liability, I would not buy stock. by s.petry · · Score: 2

    It's one thing to have Apple Watch or FitBit misread your heart rate as happens with tattoos. It's quite another to misread blood sugar and let someone go into shock or worse.

    Most people with diabetes that I know are concerned with the inaccuracy of the home kits which works with blood. What do you think happens if they have to sign a EULA giving indemnity to Apple? They won't buy it, and honestly neither would I.

    Honestly, we need to see if the tech actually goes anywhere. Then we'll have to wait for the first bad incident due to the tech. My guess? It'll be like an Apple watch. A few people will use it, and not the ones who rely on it.

    --

    -The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.

    1. Re:Liability, I would not buy stock. by tlhIngan · · Score: 2

      It's one thing to have Apple Watch or FitBit misread your heart rate as happens with tattoos. It's quite another to misread blood sugar and let someone go into shock or worse.

      Most people with diabetes that I know are concerned with the inaccuracy of the home kits which works with blood. What do you think happens if they have to sign a EULA giving indemnity to Apple? They won't buy it, and honestly neither would I.

      Honestly, we need to see if the tech actually goes anywhere. Then we'll have to wait for the first bad incident due to the tech. My guess? It'll be like an Apple watch. A few people will use it, and not the ones who rely on it.

      I suspect it will be a "Not a medical device". As in it will NOT replace a glucosometer and testing strips. Instead, it might be able to give you one of three readings - hyperglycemic, normal, or hypoglycemic. I believe dogs are able to help you with this as well, but they cost a lot of money and require a lot of upkeep that others might not be able to do.

      If your watch can warn you that you're getting close to either extreme, there's a chance the user might be able to fix it before collapsing into a coma. Or if the user does collapse, then the watch can immediately place a call to 911 and relay that information to first responders.

      It won't replace a meter, but it can potentially warn if the blood sugar is at the extremes as well as provide information to first responders who might not have anyone to ask what's going on. The watch itself can be screaming out "Diabetic - hypoglycemic" on the screen which will aid them in reviving you.

  5. not Apple's strength by Goldsmith · · Score: 5, Informative

    If this is real, Apple is very much behind the times when it comes to both sensor technology and understanding of the medical device market. Trying a spectroscopic approach (which appears to be the case) is way out of date, that's a generation behind even the FDA cleared tests, and isn't going to compete with the new generation of sensors being developed now.

    There are several approaches to continuous monitoring of glucose, going back more than 10 years.

    Many of these technologies, particularly the non-invasive ones, are more available outside the US than inside. This has more to do with the way medical device manufacturers are paid than any technical limitation. Bluntly, being in the glucose monitoring business is a great way to lose a lot of money quickly. Yes, the market is big, but it's brutal. Apple's strength is not dominating low margin, highly regulated markets.

  6. I'd really like to see this work out... by Sooner+Boomer · · Score: 4, Informative

    I'm tired of poking a needle in my finger twice a day to make me bleed so I can check my blood sugar. Then there's the cost/bother of the strips and machine (strips have a short shelf life, machines eat batteries).

    --
    Chaos maximizes locally around me.
  7. It's not about manouvering on this one by xaxiomaticx · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.

  8. Re:Proof in the Numbers by santiago · · Score: 4, Informative

    The problem line is [oneish integerValue], which returns zero, and the rest of your code is just trying to obfuscate this. This is because NSDecimalNumber doesn't overrider integerValue, so it returns the inherited implementation, which returns zero. This is unexpected, but not undocumented. See the Subclassing Notes at:

    https://developer.apple.com/re...

    I'll note that in Swift, integerValue no longer exists, having been folded into intValue, which gives the expected result of one (just like intValue in Objective-C).