Crowdfunding on Indiegogo began today for Insulin Angel‘s temperature and proximity tracking device in an effort to raise $55,000 and jump start manufacturing.
The Berlin-based company has created a small device that will keep medicines from going bad by tracking their temperatures within less than one degree. It also uses GPS to ensure that a vital medication like insulin is never left far behind or lost. The device coordinates with a custom mobile application, which gives notifications if temperatures get to potentially dangerous levels or if the medication is far away from the smartphone.
Orders for the $50 device and corresponding app can be made on the Indiegogo site as well as donations with an expected delivery date of June.
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With different refrigerators varying with temperature settings, the risk of power outages and different environmental temperatures in general, keeping track of this data is very important. It not only allows users to make sure insulin or other medications are safe to use, and it can also help prevent unnecessary and costly waste of medication.
In fact, recording the amount of waste is an additional asset this technology could provide, which could eventually be used to help monitor those numbers on a much larger scale in hospitals. CEO Steve Miller explained in an interview that in some hospitals it’s estimated that 30 percent of these medications are thrown away because of temperature or expiration issues, but there isn’t much actual data to back that up currently.
Back in 2008 it was reported that health facilities flush some 250 million pounds of medication each year, sometimes because they aren’t needed, but also for expiration and spoiling reasons. For that reason, Miller says collecting more data with Insulin Angel technology and marrying that up with usage data, costs of medication could eventually go down.
The motivation for this technology comes from founders who each have personal experience with diabetes. Miller has a 10-year-old son with Type 1 diabetes, and as he explained, keeping track of medication and making sure its safe to use is a daily challenge in his household.
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“Inevitably, he forgets his [medication] from time to time, and that can be a major stress inducer,” Miller said. He recalled a recent time when his wife and son left to go to a sports practice. “The app would tell when the sensor device, which is with the medication, is too far adrift and will warn you on your phone to let you know that in fairly short order. Before you’ve committed yourself to that journey, you’ve got the message.”
Because this technology would be specifically useful for kids and for elderly people who might be more prone to losing track or forgetting medication, Insulin Angel can also be set up to send notifications to a parent or caregiver.
There are other medication monitors on the market, like AdhereTech, which is a smart pill bottle that measures how much of a medication is left in a bottle and transmits that data to a device. There are products like the E-pill bottle monitor that provides alarm reminders. But there aren’t other products that combine temperature control with reliable Bluetooth capability, Miller said.
The current database for medications in the app includes most insulins used in the UK, US and Germany, and multiple devices can be used to monitor both medication that is in use and what is stored away. In addition to insulin, data from many temperature sensitive blood glucose monitors from Accu-Chek and Bayer, the rheumatism medication Humira and the asthma medication Salbutamol are already included in the database.
“We’re not trying to fix the conditions – what we’re trying to do is reduce the stress and make sure that you’re more likely to take your medication at the right time and with knowledge that it’s all in tip-top condition,” Miller said.
In addition to personal use, Miller pointed out there had been interest in this device eventually being used to monitor temperature of products during shipping – medications or even things like wine.
Earnings from the campaign, which will end on May 9, will be used to manufacture the initial 2,000-3,000 units. The company hopes that the funding and exposure from this process will be enough to get the product into communities, and at that point they will seek to find strategic partnerships that can make mass adoption possible.
