Glucose Meter - Future

Future

Development of noninvasive devices may enable continuous monitoring. Research is being done on noninvasive methods for measuring blood glucose, such as using infrared or near-infrared light, electric currents, and ultrasound.

One noninvasive glucose meter has been approved by the U.S. FDA: The GlucoWatch G2 Biographer is designed to be worn on the wrist and uses electric fields to draw out body fluid for testing. The device does not replace conventional blood glucose monitoring. One limitation is that the GlucoWatch is not able to cope with perspiration at the measurement site. Sweat must be allowed to dry before measurement can resume. Due to this limitations and others, the product is no longer on the market.

The market introduction of noninvasive blood glucose measurement by spectroscopic measurement methods, in the field of near-infrared (NIR), by extracorporal measuring devices, failed so far because at this time, the devices measure tissue sugar in body tissues and not the blood sugar in blood fluid. To determine blood glucose, the measuring beam of infrared light, for example, has to penetrate the tissue for measurement of blood glucose.

Throughout the 1990s a company in Hagerstown, Maryland, Futrex, Inc., was deep into finding a universal calibration for their meter, the Dream Beam, which relied on near-infrared technology, however in 1996 the company was raided by the FDA and a lawsuit was filed by the SEC charging Futrex, Inc. and its president Robert Rosenthal with fraud due to the belief that no non-invasive meter could accurately measure blood glucose. The raid was due to an unruly employee however critical time and information was lost throughout the raid and lawsuit, and development was ended on the instrument.

It is speculated that within the next decade, meters may be replaced with continuous glucose sensors for many people with diabetes. This will likely decrease complications found in people with diabetes by limiting problems associated with hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia.

There are currently three CGMS (continuous glucose monitoring system) available. The first is Medtronic's Minimed Paradigm RTS with a sub-cutaneous probe attached to a small transmitter (roughly the size of a quarter) that sends interstitial glucose levels to a small pager sized receiver every five minutes. The DexCom STS System is another available system (2Q 2006). It is a hypodermic probe with a small transmitter. The receiver is about the size of a cell phone and can operate up to five feet from the transmitter. Aside from a two-hour calibration period, monitoring is logged at five-minute intervals for up to 72 hours. The user can set the high and low glucose alarms. The third CGMS available is the FreeStyle Navigator from Abbott Laboratories.

There is currently an effort to develop an integrated treatment system with a glucose meter, insulin pump, and wristop controller, as well as an effort to integrate the glucose meter and a cell phone. These glucose meter/cellular phone combinations are under testing and currently cost $149 USD retail. Testing strips are proprietary and available only through the manufacturer (no insurance availability). These "Glugophones" are currently offered in three forms: as a dongle for the iPhone, an add-on pack for LG model UX5000, VX5200, and LX350 cell phones, as well as an add-on pack for the Motorola Razr cell phone. This limits providers to AT&T and Verizon. Similar systems have been tested for a longer time in Finland.

An Israeli company by the name of Cnoga Medical Ltd. has developed a non-invasive Glucometer. CNOGA's technology is based on real-time tissue photography. Tissue image color is processed in real-time providing the temporary color distribution using dynamic range of at least 36 color-depth representing over 6.8^10 color combination, then by using sophisticated mathematical algorithm.

Another Israeli company named Integrity Applications has developed a non-invasive glucometer called the GlucoTrack. Integrity's product is based on a combination of ultrasonic, electromagnetic and thermal technologies to measure glucose. Their product is scheduled to be commercially available in the EU in 2012 and about a year later in the US.

Recent advances in cellular data communications technology have enabled the development of glucose meters that directly integrate cellular data transmission capability, enabling the user to both transmit glucose data to the medical caregiver and receive direct guidance from the caregiver on the screen of the glucose meter. The first such device, from Telcare, Inc., was exhibited at the 2010 CTIA International Wireless Expo, where it won an E-Tech award. This device is currently undergoing clinical testing in the US and Internationally.