Before talking about innovation, let’s spend time on what the Diabetes is, first! I found 2 greats videos: one from CDC and another from Diabetes UK that provideyou info about the disease and its main types in less than 3 minutes.
People with diabetes suffer from problems managing blood sugar levels that stem from their inability or inefficiency of their bodies to produce the glucose-regulating hormone insulin.
Innovations
Monitoring glucose levels – “needle free” – (source: link)
A European company is pioneering a bloodless way for people with diabetes to monitor their glucose levels. The article says that more than 5% of the global popualtion is affected by diabetes and this innovation will make it easier for people with diabetes to manager their health conditions. The machines would use lasers and an optical lens to read glucose levels through the skin photo-thermally and it will only take a few seconds. Monitoring frequently monitor the glucose level is mandatory for patients suffering from Diabetes. The method involves pricking a finger, sometimes several times a day, to produce blood that can be tested and can alter the sensibility of the fingers. Even if some monitoring systems reduce the need for finger pricking but still required an injected sensor.
Artificial pancreas
Researchers are also working on a fully functional artificial pancreas that could monitor glucose levels and dispense insulin as needed, but we are still years away. As of today, the “artificial pancreas” is including an insulin pump, a blood sugar reader (CGM: Continuous Glucose Monitor), a controller to see the glucose data, an algorithm software that tells the pump what to do and glucagon, the famous hormone that increases rapidly blood glucose to respond to hypoglycemia (low blood sugar level)
Why Apple and Google are working on Diabetes Tech?
ThinkerSquid 