Update below A medical device startup developing a way to take the pain out of blood glucose monitoring for diabetes has taken its pitch to Indiegogo. Quick’s iQuickIt Saliva Analyzer is a smartphone glucose meter to help monitor glucose levels in real time. The idea is to improve adherence and help diabetics manage their condition more efficiently.
The technology is designed to help avoid costly complications associated with diabetes, such as hyperglycemia. Last year the cost of treating diabetes rose to $245 billion compared with $174 billion in 2007.
The company was started by two emergency room physicians at the Hospital of Central Connecticut and entrepreneur Scott Fox, the CEO.
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It’s raising $100,000 to test the saliva analyzer prototype with a larger group of patients with diabetes. It will compare results against blood tests and further develop, refine and calibrate the design to advance the device through clinical trials to get FDA clearance.
Update Although the company is focused on helping people manage diabetes, measuring glucose levels in diabetes is not the only technology it is developing. CEO Fox said in an email that it may extend it to measure acetone levels in diabetics’ saliva as well.
“Acetone is found in diabetic saliva when the patient is acutely ill with a condition called diabetic ketoacidosis, which can be fatal. The iQuickIt Saliva Analyzer actually has the capability to measure several different substances using the same saliva sample, thus potentially providing for the option of the simultaneous measurement of glucose and acetone.
“For example, if the diabetes sufferer’s glucose was 550 and read positive for acetone, the smart device receiving the measurements for the iQuickIt Saliva Analyzer could send a warning to the user to immediately seek medical attention, with related alerts/notifications simultaneously sent to pre-designated health care providers and other loved ones or recipients.”
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Quick also has a social media campaign on Facebook to raise awareness of its device.
Smartphones are seen as a centerpiece of personalized health and are set to play a critical role in the future of healthcare.
Among other companies developing non-invasive ways to measure glucose levels are Grove Instruments — using near infrared spectroscopy; Socrates Health Solutions’ device that measures glucose levels, but through the ear; and Penn researchers, who are also developing a blood glucose monitor using saliva, but one which uses a carbon nanotube-based transistor with tubes coated in pyrene-1-boronic acid molecules that bind to glucose.
[Photo from stock.xchng user Julia Freeman-Woolpert]
