The Noninvasive Blood Glucose Technology That Apple Is Developing for Upcoming Apple Watches Has Achieved the “Proof of Concept” Stage
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A recent article by Bloomberg revealed that Apple had achieved significant advancements in noninvasive blood glucose monitoring. Apple intends to use the function as a future Apple Watch feature to enable diabetics and others to test their blood glucose levels without pricking their skin.
Apple is developing a silicon photonics chip that employs optical absorption spectroscopy to shine light from a laser under the skin to measure glucose concentration in the body to assess glucose levels devoid of blood. The technology is currently in the “proof-of-concept” stage; however, it needs to be compressed into a form factor that can be worn.
The prototype device may be affixed to a person’s arm and is currently around the size of an iPhone. That is a smaller version than the previous one, which needed a tabletop because it was so large.
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TSMC created the prototype’s primary chip. To build sensors and processors for glucose monitoring, Apple previously collaborated with Rockley Photonics. A digital sensor system from Rockley Photonics 2021 was introduced. It can track several bodily functions, including blood pressure, temperature, glucose trends, hydration, alcohol, lactate, and more. In regulatory papers, Rockley Photonics made it clear that Apple was its major client, but the two eventually parted ways.
Although Apple’s Experimental Design Group (XDG) has hundreds of engineers working on the project, the technology is still years away. Bloomberg claims that the XDG is similar to Google’s X research and development project, Apple’s top-secret initiative. Apple has invested millions of dollars in researching and developing noninvasive glucose monitoring.
After buying RareLight in 2010, Apple began developing an alternate glucose monitoring system in Steve Jobs’ direction. Before the project was transferred to the XDG, Apple worked covertly on it in a secret location for several years using a startup company called Avolante Health LLC.
Apple has been conducting human studies using the under-skin glucose detection technology for the past ten years, employing a test population of individuals with prediabetes, type 2 diabetes, and those without a diagnosis of the disease.
To help people make lifestyle adjustments before developing full-blown diabetes, Apple wants to be able to alert people if they are prediabetic. Apple’s regulatory team is holding early discussions about obtaining governmental permission for the technology.
