Four major players in healthcare said today they inked a collaborative partnership to develop a phone-based, low-cost diabetes platform for Type II patients worldwide.
Gentag, Mayo Clinic, NovioSense and the Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems will partner for the consortium, combining their resources and over 75 issued patents for the development, the groups said.
“By pooling our resources together, we are in a position now to dramatically advance diabetes monitoring. Our patented technology allows us to make wireless sensors that are battery-less, disposable, painless and use cell phones or other [near field communication] devices as glucometers. Furthermore we can use the cell phones as controllers for insulin delivery, including disposable NFC insulin delivery systems, under our issued worldwide patents,” Gentag CEO Dr. John Peeters said in a prepared statement.
NovioSense and Gentag will head development, with diabetes teams from the Mayo Clinic and sensor and NFC teams from Fraunhofer, according to the press release.
“Many countries will need to deliver type 2 diabetes solutions to a third of their populations. The status quo has to change and these technologies are a critical step in the right direction,” Mayo Clinic’s Dr. James Levine said in prepared remarks.
The design will include the use of near field communication-enabled smartphones as replacements for traditional glucometers, the groups said.
“We want to make pain-free glucose monitoring available to everyone independent of their socioeconomic status. It is only by increasing awareness and by making monitoring simple and affordable that we can hope to push back the tidal wave. By creating a device powered only by the NFC antennas found in most modern smart phones, and combining this with a pain-free sensor platform, we can cut the cost and burden of glucose monitoring dramatically,” NovioSense CEO Dr. Christopher Wilson said in a press release.
Gentag and NovioSense will supply the platform for low-cost disposable diabetes sensors, the companies said. The Mayo Clinic will oversee the production of customized apps for diabetes monitoring applications. Fraunhofer will be on board to supply its expertise in sensor and chip design.
“This cooperation, especially with NovioSense BV, enables the Fraunhofer IMS once again to contribute with its competencies in the fields of microelectronic circuits, electronic systems and sensors, and bring those successfully to the market,” Fraunhofer IMS director Anton Grabmaier said in prepared remarks.
