Jean-Louis Gassée, Monday Note:
Apple appears to be working on blood glucose monitoring as a way to address Type 2 Diabetes.“Stick it in your ear”. Literally.
This is a detailed, thoughtful piece on Apple’s pursuit of the holy grail of glucose level monitoring, continuous monitoring without drawing blood. Terrific read.
Weird. He’s saying that these devices don’t exist. I know someone with type 1 diabetes who uses one:
https://www.freestylelibre.co.uk/libre/
And he mentions blood pressure readings from the ear canal. Not sure how that would work; to get blood pressure, you need to block an artery. I don’t see how you’re going to do that in the ear.
The FreeStyle LIbre uses a sensor that is placed under the skin. It seems to be getting positive reviews as being painless to apply, so definitely making great strides (at least by reputation). It claims to not be a CGM, but I don’t know how that is the case, it certainly SOUNDS like a CGM (though honestly, I haven’t looked that closely…it is a UK-only product that has not been cleared for use in the US).
But anyway, I think it’s CLOSE to non-invasive, it’s ALMOST there…but not quite. Were it available in the US I would definitely look into it. I’ve used CGMs before and been frustrated by them. But to occasionally use one for its 14 days, to get some occasional trend data or when I know I’ll be in some kind of higher risk of blood sugar swings, and not necessarily wear one all the time sounds very appealing!
I do a lot of finger pricks, and I’m so used to it it’s no real bother. I don’t know if I would get a non-invasive sensor if I had to wear it in my ear: I’m already testing a lot, I worry that the annoyance of wearing something in my ear would mitigate the benefit.
I think that’s the real place the rubber meets the road. The less annoying, the fewer “inconvenience pain points,” the more likely people will use the device regularly.
The critical difference is that those devices are invasive: you need a sensor in your skin. The FreeStyle Libre is a needle about 1cm long and 1mm thick stuck inside your upper arm, to be replaced every other week. Attached to that needle is some circuitry, including a NFC transmitter.
The holy grail is a solution that isn’t invasive.
The FreeStyle Libre isn’t quite a CGM because the transmitter is passive. You have to check at least every 8 hours, and there’s no active component — the sensor cannot actively alarm you (only a separate reading device can do so when you explicitly read a value), much less can it fulfill closed-loop integration with a pump.
I.e., it does continuously collect values (as long as they are read at least thrice a day), but the monitoring on top of that is missing.
That clears it up for me. Thanks!
<
blockquote>Google is paying 97$ per hour! Work for few hours and have longer with friends & family! !mj334d:
On tuesday I got a great new Land Rover Range Rover from having earned $8752 this last four weeks.. Its the most-financialy rewarding I’ve had.. It sounds unbelievable but you wont forgive yourself if you don’t check it
!mj334d:
➽➽
➽➽;➽➽ http://GoogleFinancialJobsCash334MarketProjectGetPay$97Hour… ★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★:::::!mj334d..,….
Then, sorry, that’s not the one my friend uses. It’s a metal disc that sticks on his arm. It’s not at all invasive.
I’ll try to find the name of the one he uses…