Apple Watch Blood Glucose Team Gains New Lead

[Earendil]

Two stats for you:
• According to the WHO, about 422 million people worldwide have diabetes.
• Diabetics are twice as likely to have heart disease or stroke than those without.

If Apple can pull off legit glucose monitoring, they won't be able to manufacture enough Watches to meet demand. They'll also need to create a new phrase to replace "game changer."

Not to mention gestational diabetes, which 2%-10% of pregnancies in the US involve. The stress of pregnancy on the body causes many women to become diabetic or pre-diabetic. If not handled properly, by monitoring and adjusting, it can cause women to become permanently diabetic (50% chance).

Citation and further reading.

Gestational Diabetes

Every year, up to 10% of pregnancies in the United States are affected by gestational diabetes. Get tested so you can begin treatment if needed to protect your health and your baby’s.

www.cdc.gov

 

[ss2cire]

Type 2 diabetes is a choice. Just stop eating carbs and it will reverse completely.

that doesn't work the way you think it does... are you a medical doctor with a specialty in diabetes? if not, please refrain from giving medical advice, thanks

 

[Pezimak]

Still sceptical of this, plus firing a laser into your skin sounds pretty invasive still. Meh it won’t be out for years anyway as they say and by then someone else may beat them to it.

 

[HDFan]

First mention I have seen that they actually have a working wearable device which means that they have proven that it is possible. Next step - miniaturization.

 

[Cooper27]

This would make my diabetes type 1 very easy to manage. I currently run freestyle libre 2 which sends info to the freestyle app on iphone. HOWEVER there is no direct way to patch this across to an iwatch without using secondary apps and hacks. This lack of a watch app from freestyle has always surprised me, is this due to apple holding them back? Or just laziness from Abbott (makers of freestyle).

 

[ss2cire]

This would make my diabetes type 1 very easy to manage. I currently run freestyle libre 2 which sends info to the freestyle app on iphone. HOWEVER there is no direct way to patch this across to an iwatch without using secondary apps and hacks. This lack of a watch app from freestyle has always surprised me, is this due to apple holding them back? Or just laziness from Abbott (makers of freestyle).

I suspect no watch app is due in part to laziness and to it being a cross-platform app, not having feature parody might be a deal breaker.

 

[QuantumEraser]

I follow biology literature pretty closely, including diabetes, and I don't see any indication that this is remotely possible, yet, at least not from academic type groups. But if it's private money driving the technology, it's entirely possible that it will go unreported until patent fillings.

I thought Google (or Alphabet) had cutting edge contacts (for the eye) that would read glucose levels but that has seemingly been abandoned. Google founders also started Calico (health and longevity) and I am not sure what has come out of that after 10 years. Amazon and health care? And then there is Theranos... I am just observing the trend of technology companies wading into biology and health. So far, no real homeruns. Does anyone know who the scientists are doing the work at Apple? Have there been any patents filed in this area by Apple?

 

[CarAnalogy]

This reminds me of when Hank Scorpio put Homer in charge of the nuclear division.

“You guys working? Could you, uh, work harder?”

Everyone says this is a hard scientific problem. Not sure what putting another manager in charge is going to do to push it forward, but here’s hoping.

 

[Tdude96]

I just want an Apple Watch that insults me, tells me to work on my love handles and lose the jelly rolls, and to man up. How difficult is that?

This is why mine knows me as "Fat <blank>* 👿

 

[BornAgainMac]

that doesn't work the way you think it does... are you a medical doctor with a specialty in diabetes? if not, please refrain from giving medical advice, thanks

Have medical doctors that specialize in diabetes solved it yet?

 

[magusxxx]

Two stats for you:
• According to the WHO, about 422 million people worldwide have diabetes.
• Diabetics are twice as likely to have heart disease or stroke than those without.

If Apple can pull off legit glucose monitoring, they won't be able to manufacture enough Watches to meet demand. They'll also need to create a new phrase to replace "game changer."

Yeah, and guess who's going to pay for them? Medicare! Because Apple has already had the other health stuff on the watch tested and "quietly" approved by the FDA. Once the glucose monitor is tested the whole watch will be submitted as a "medical device".

Best Buy employee: "STOP bringing us doctor's notes! You're not getting one from us!"

 

[Suicidy]

I wish Apple hurried up with this thing, I’ve wanted to get one for my type 2 diabetic mum from the moment I heard about it years ago!

Same for my father. Even nurses have difficulty getting blood out of him to properly use a test strip.

 

[Suicidy]

Yeah, and guess who's going to pay for them? Medicare! Because Apple has already had the other health stuff on the watch tested and "quietly" approved by the FDA. Once the glucose monitor is tested the whole watch will be submitted as a "medical device".

Best Buy employee: "STOP bringing us doctor's notes! You're not getting one from us!"

This will likely be much more affordable than current blood glucose monitoring devices.

 

[falainber]

Yeah, and guess who's going to pay for them? Medicare! Because Apple has already had the other health stuff on the watch tested and "quietly" approved by the FDA. Once the glucose monitor is tested the whole watch will be submitted as a "medical device".

Best Buy employee: "STOP bringing us doctor's notes! You're not getting one from us!"

I am not sure any of the AW features have been "approved" by FDA. Some have been "cleared" by FDA but that's very different from being approved.

 

[Momof2.1107]

I'll have to more carefully think through FDA device regulations but my first thought is that if the device is not intended to be used as a diagnostic device without the use of an approved separate device that would confirm the diagnosis, I wonder if the Watch (with glucose monitoring) could be considered a general wellness device which would then not need other FDA device classification control measures.

Also, unless this Watch is able to monitor glucose without an additional separate sensor that one has to wear elsewhere on your body, I too think this would be a separate product. Current CGM devices require you to wear a sensor, often on your upper arm and the sensor has to be changed after several days. With this kind of device, I do not see non-diabetics using a CGM regularly because having to wear a separate and somewhat bulky sensor that can be prone to falling off if you don't clean the skin and attach correctly is not a typical person's idea of convenient.

I’m not diabetic, but I would love to use a CGM to measure my levels and not have to keep pricking my finger. I’ve had a lot health issues this summer and am trying to monitor as much as I can.

 

[Zeke92]

Maybe this is pedantic but it was this year that I learnt there is a difference between blood glucose monitoring and continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). I work in the health field. CGM is an estimate of your blood glucose because it isn't actually accessing your blood, but rather the glucose of the fluid that is between cells. Here's how NIH describes it: "CGM sensors estimate the glucose level in the fluid between your cells, which is very similar to the glucose level in your blood" (https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-in...naging-diabetes/continuous-glucose-monitoring ).

In other words then, measuring the glucose of the fluid between cell spaces is a surrogate for blood glucose.

My question then really is whether the development of glucose monitoring in Apple Watches would be measuring the actual blood glucose, or whether it is measuring a proxy such as fluid glucose.

It doesn't actually matter. Measuring the interstitial fluid is an accurate reflection of actual blood glucose

 

[PN4]

I am using my Apple Watch Series 4 until glucose monitoring comes out.

 

[Crowbot]

Just off the top of my head there’s an exception for blood sampling when applied to diagnostic procedure and diagnostic device:

21 CFR 812(f):

CFR - Code of Federal Regulations Title 21

I don’t know if FDA guidance has additional text about fluid sampling such as that of CGM.

As you might know, regulations and guidances from the FDA work together in complex ways to define the regulatory landscape for devices.

This looks more to address a research or clinical setting rather than a device spec. I'd have to research it. Which I'm not going to do.

 

[Crowbot]

Still sceptical of this, plus firing a laser into your skin sounds pretty invasive still. Meh it won’t be out for years anyway as they say and by then someone else may beat them to it.

It wouldn't be penetrating. Merely illuminating. Still non-invasive.

 

[aleni]

I hate using watch (both classic and smar watchest), but if they manage to pull this off. I'll be the first in line getting this on launch day.

 

[psxp]

this will be a day 1 purchase for me

 

[ddhhddhh2]

This is a really awesome feature, and I'm super excited about it. Big thanks to Apple for all their hard work; I'm upgrading as soon as it hits the market. I trust Apple's tech way more than that scam artist Holmes.

 

[msackey]

It doesn't actually matter. Measuring the interstitial fluid is an accurate reflection of actual blood glucose

Of course it matters. What I’m talking about is not about the accuracy for purposes of glucose monitoring. I’m talking about the technology development, because consumer level CGM already exists but continuous BLOOD glucose monitoring for consumers does not exist as far as I know.

That said, even manufacturers of CGM say there are differences between CGM and BGM which a user should be aware of. This link indicates calibration of CGM is needed: https://www.nutrisense.io/blog/cgm-vs-bgm-which-monitor-is-best

I’m not trying to say CGM is bad. I’m actually more interested in knowing if Apple is actually trying to measure blood biomarker or interstitial fluid biomarker. Different things.

 

[Palmy_Jon]

This would make my diabetes type 1 very easy to manage. I currently run freestyle libre 2 which sends info to the freestyle app on iphone. HOWEVER there is no direct way to patch this across to an iwatch without using secondary apps and hacks. This lack of a watch app from freestyle has always surprised me, is this due to apple holding them back? Or just laziness from Abbott (makers of freestyle).

Yep, they are lazy. The Dexcom G7 has an Apple Watch app so it can be done.

 

[coolbreeze2]

If this happens, I am buying for several family members including myself. I hope its delivered with the Apple Watch X, but I am sensing it might not be.

For sure!!