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Report: Apple taps biomed engineers for stealthy diabetes program

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Apple's secret diabetes programApple (NSDQ:AAPL) reportedly tapped a roster of biomedical engineers to develop non-invasive continuous glucose monitors in a secret program that was the brainchild of its late founder Steve Jobs.

The 5-year-old effort has progressed to feasibility studies and Apple has also hired regulatory consultants, CNBC reported, citing “3 people familiar with the matter.” Jobs, who died in 2011, wanted to create wearable devices like the Apple Watch that could monitor vital signs including blood glucose levels. The stealthy glucose project involved about 30 people as of a year ago, the network reported, and is centered on optical sensors.

The glucose group is part of a larger healthcare push at Apple, which in 2013 lured the then-chief medical officer at Masimo (NSDQ:MASI), Michael O’Reilly, and a number of other biomed aces from Vital Connect, Sano, Medtronic (NYSE:MDT), and C8 Medisensors.

“I am proud that Michael is there [at Apple]. And Michael’s a great guy and I wish him well. I think, you know what, if things go right, this is all good for everybody,” Masimo CEO Joe Kiani told MassDevice.com in 2014. “So there’s a chance that we’ll be competitive. There’s a chance that we’ll work closely together. I know they have a lot of respect for us. We have a lot of respect for them and we’ll see.

“If it doesn’t go right, you know what I do. I will not let wrong sit by itself there,” Kiani said.

Apple declined to comment, CNBC said.

The news pushed share prices down for other companies in the diabetes space:

COMPANY SHARE PRICE % CHANGE
(NSDQ:DXCM) $75.19 -2.1%
Echo Therapeutics (NSDQ:ECTE) $0.09 -10.0%
Roche (PINK:RHHBY) $31.98 -0.8%
Tandem Diabetes Care (NSDQ:TNDM) $1.00 -9.1%
Abbott (NYSE:ABT) $42.74 -1.7%*
Insulet (NSDQ:PODD) $41.53 -0.3%

* Abbott’s decline might have more to do with an FDA warning letter than the Apple news. ↩

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