FDA Approves Non-Invasive Blood Glucose Monitor: 5 Similar Technologies In Development

Pricking fingers to draw out blood for testing their blood sugar, is a painful inconvenience that diabetics have to go through, throughout their lifetimes. But, there are many solutions being worked upon to make this process non-invasive.

FDA on Wednesday approved the first continuous glucose level monitoring system for adults — the FreeStyle Libre Flash Glucose Monitoring system works by just inserting a tiny sensor wire below the surface of the skin. This sensor continuously measures and monitors glucose levels. Users can get this data by just waving a wireless mobile reader over the sensor wire. The apparatus will take 12 hours to rev up, but once it does, it will provide continuous glucose monitoring. You will need a doctor’s help in activating it. Once it is activated though, the mobile reader will be able to tell you whether your sugar levels are too low or too high.

Furthermore, you will also have to be 18 or older to use it.

“This system allows people with diabetes to avoid the additional step of finger stick calibration, which can sometimes be painful, but still provides necessary information for treating their diabetes — with a wave of the mobile reader,” Donald St. Pierre, acting director of the Office of In Vitro Diagnostics and Radiological Health and deputy director of new product evaluation in the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said in the press release issued Wednesday.

There are around 29 million people with diabetes in the U.S. and their numbers are increasing at a rapid rate every year. So there is a definite need for an alternative to the traditional manner of glucose monitoring, venipuncture, which involves pricking the finger and drawing out blood.

But, there are other non-invasive solutions besides the FreeStyle Libre Flash in the works, and some of these might be available soon — Fitbit, for example, has partnered with medical device company DexCom and is rumored to be working on equipping its smartwatches with a similar sensor wire, that will provide continuous glucose monitoring.

Smartphone giant Apple meanwhile is rumored to be working on optical sensors that will shine a light through the skin to measure glucose and has reportedly hired “200 PhDs” for the project. Chances are that it might include the feature in a special edition of the Apple Watch Series 3.

Another non-invasive technology in the works is the glucose monitoring patch, SugarBeat, made by the United Kingdom-based Nemaura Medical Inc. It is a 1mm thick disposable patch which can measure the user’s glucose every 5 minutes. The patch can then be connected to a rechargeable transmitter which will take a reading every five minutes from the body’s intestinal fluid.

The FDA approval for SugarBeat is currently pending.

Another device, GlucoTrack involves attaching clippers to your earlobes to test the blood sugar level. You can just clip it on and get the reading on an attached transmitter. Clinical trials for getting the FDA approval for the device are on currently.

Engineers at Brown University have developed a Biochip, which can detect glucose levels from saliva instead of blood. It uses devices called plasmonic interferometers, which detect the glucose levels in the plasma and can detect such molecules in low concentration.