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Apple Has 'Secret' Team of Biomedical Engineers Developing Sensors for Non-Invasively Monitoring Blood Glucose

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At a nondescript office in Palo Alto, Apple is rumored to have a small team of biomedical engineers researching better methods for monitoring blood sugar, reports CNBC.

Apple's work on glucose monitoring is said to have started with former Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who wanted to develop a sensor that could continuously and non-invasively monitor blood sugar levels to improve quality of life. Apple is far enough along in its research that feasibility trials are being conducted at clinical sites in the San Francisco Bay Area, and it has hired consultants to sort out regulatory issues.
The glucose team is said to report to Johny Srouji, Apple's senior vice president of hardware technologies. [...]

One of the people said that Apple is developing optical sensors, which involves shining a light through the skin to measure indications of glucose.
Click to expand...
Rumors of Apple's work on advanced healthcare initiatives like diabetes management aren't new. Early Apple Watch information suggested the wearable device would be able to measure things like blood pressure and blood glucose levels.

Many health-related sensors that Apple wanted to include in the original Apple Watch were reportedly dropped because the technology was not consistently accurate, but rumors at the time said Apple would pursue its work on more advanced health sensors. Apple has also made several health-related acquisitions and around the time the Apple Watch was in development, hired dozens of biomedical experts.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has since said that Apple does not want to put the Apple Watch through the FDA approval process, something that would need to happen for more advanced healthcare features, so it is not clear if this is a feature Apple foresees being added to the wrist-worn device. From Tim Cook in 2015:
"We don't want to put the watch through the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) process. I wouldn't mind putting something adjacent to the watch through it, but not the watch, because it would hold us back from innovating too much, the cycles are too long. But you can begin to envision other things that might be adjacent to it -- maybe an app, maybe something else."
Click to expand...
If Apple is planning on more advanced sensors for the Apple Watch, such features are not likely to be included in the third-generation device rumored to be coming in the fall of 2017. Information on that device thus far points towards a smaller update focusing on improving battery life and perhaps adding features like cellular connectivity.

While Apple works on its in-house own blood sugar monitoring solution, it has launched CareKit, a platform that allows app developers to create integrated software that allows patients and doctors to better manage medical conditions. Diabetes monitor One Drop was one of the first companies to support CareKit.

Article Link: Apple Has 'Secret' Team of Biomedical Engineers Developing Sensors for Non-Invasively Monitoring Blood Glucose
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2017/04/12/apple-secret-team-diabetes-research/
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Sign me up!

(Type 1 Diabetic for 45 years)
(And before you go there, I was 3 when I got it. T1D is when your pancreas stops producing insulin)
(Oh yeah, I have a Class 3 Medical from the FAA too...)
[doublepost=1492042124][/doublepost]
JPIS said:
[doublepost=1492041545][/doublepost]Maybe Apple should buy this solid company: BioTelemetry, Inc. (BEAT)
Click to expand...
or Dexcom... as well as Tandem Diabetic Care...
 
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pat500000 said:
Non invasive? You need the actual blood to get accurate blood measurement.
Click to expand...

You need blood for existing technology that has been around for years or even decades. This must be referring to something new.

In fact in Europe there is a no-blood tester but it is still somewhat invasive. It is not in the US yet because our FDA takes a lot longer. I've considered importing it.
 
ActionableMango said:
Non-invasive monitoring would be a big, big deal to a heck of a lot of people. This would be the Apple Watch's "killer app" for anyone with diabetes or pre-diabetes.
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As someone who studies diabetes, especially among tech-savvy millennials, I can tell you that this tech exists, but is in the clinical stages. Apple would have to follow the same procedures if they want FDA approval. Thus, I suspect they are working as 'blind' tech developers in conjunction with clinical researchers.

This would, indeed, be exceptional tech, if it came to market.
 
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I hope that AAPL is also investigating noninvasive measurement of β-Hydroxybutyrate (or BoHB to its friends) -- the ketone body produced by those on a LCHF diet. Noninvasive measurement would let individuals know how they are progressing on the metabolic adaptations to a ketogenic metabolism.

Display of blood glucose and blood BoHB simultaneously would be awesome.
 
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Type 1 Diabetic for 31 years now, many things have been promised to us over the years so much so that I rarely give any of them any interest until you actually see it getting through the FDA approval process. I can also remember non invasive blood sugar testing being worked on back in the early 90s, there was a diabetes forum on CompuServe (dates me a bit :) ) where it was being discussed. Keep in mind if there were easy fixes we would have them by now, the short and then long term success rates of the various "cures" are pretty bad, islet cell or pancreas transplants can work short term but then the body starts to reject them & back to square one.

The big deal with non invasive testing is that it should reduce the cost of ongoing treatment significantly, even if the device was to cost say $500 out of pocket you could still save money, let alone pain etc, over just a few years even with insurance coverage (USA). If Apple doesn't go to stupid on the proprietary connection stuff then something like this would be adopted quickly, guess that would be an interesting test to see if Apple really only wants to make money or truly make a difference in the world.

One problem with most systems is that you still need to do some regular tests every day to ensure the system is still accurate enough, IIRC the accuracy of the meters (home use) is still +/-10% or so, just improved accuracy would pretty awesome.

As an alternate, for type 1, the hybrid closed loop system Medtronic is about to release is of interest, but to be honest having the pump + another sensor attached isn't exactly exciting but I admit I am interested.

http://www.medtronicdiabetes.com/products/minimed-670g-insulin-pump-system
I certainly hope we see improvements, back in 86 a blood sugar test took 2 minutes and you had to wipe the blood off of the strip after 1 minute, the current meters are pretty nice in comparison.
 
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I have no need for the Apple Watch (and don't have diabetes either) but I can see how something like this can turn what is essentially a luxury gadget into a potential purchase which may be justifiable as a useful tool.

Non-invasive medical monitoring is definitely the future. If not primarily for medical treatment it can act as a source of data for non-invasive medical research literally from within ones home. That is assuming that the device and app is scientifically accurate and of course any potential flaws in the collection of the data is considered.

If nothing else it can potentially help the 'patient' to better understand their own body.

I don't know much about this but if the device is not FDA approved then how can the app running on the device be FDA approved?
 
JeffyTheQuik said:
Sign me up!

(Type 1 Diabetic for 45 years)
(And before you go there, I was 3 when I got it. T1D is when your pancreas stops producing insulin)
(Oh yeah, I have a Class 3 Medical from the FAA too...)
[doublepost=1492042124][/doublepost]
or Dexcom... as well as Tandem Diabetic Care...
Click to expand...

Coming up on 28 years for me in June, diagnosed when I was 12. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE this technology. How it can be approved sans FDA is a mystery to me, but let's go!
 
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Would love this. This isn't the first time we've heard about glucose monitoring and the Apple Watch. There were rumours of this type of sensor when it was in the pre-release hype window.

Over 35 years as a T1 diabetic - that's a lot of finger prick testing. My big concern would be accuracy.

An issue I see with this is the fact that this would take the Apple Watch into a different category - it would now be a medical device. This would require government approval in any market Apple wanted to sell the watch with this feature. Approvals can take a very long time and when the software was updated, the update would also go through an approval process. When you're working with a device that people will make potentially life altering decisions with that's a completely different market.
 
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