How will the digital contact lens help diabetes patients?
Sensors are embedded between two soft layers of lens material and a pinhole in the lens allows tear fluid to seep into the sensor and be used to measure blood sugar levels. A wireless antenna, thinner than a human hair, will act as a controller to communicate information to the wireless device. Data will then be sent to an external device. Google engineers even considered adding LED lights that could warn the wearer by lighting up when the glucose levels have crossed above or below certain thresholds, but abandoned the idea as the arsenic content of LED could prove dangerous.
The contact lens analyzes blood glucose level every second and transmits the data to an associated app. Detailed readings are available at a tap on your phone. When blood sugar crosses certain thresholds, the app notifies you instantly to act, or to contact a physician if the situation is serious.
Keeping blood sugar levels optimal all day, avoiding spikes or lulls during sleep – these everyday problems wouldn’t depend on pure luck anymore. You could also forget about pricking your finger several times each day. As one of the most powerful ways technology will change diabetes management, it sounds like utopia.
But when and how will diabetes patients be able to get their hands on this technology
How is development progressing?
Developing the digital contact lens was first assigned to GoogleX, the “moonshot” lab of the company. But today it seems Verily, Alphabet’s healthcare spin-off is working on it. The company is reportedly discussing the technology with the FDA to make sure it will meet their recommendations. To develop it for use in healthcare, they also partnered with Alcon, the pharma company Novartis’ eye care division. By having a pharma partner with experience in eye products, entering the market could be faster, and they might also tackle regulatory issues more easily.
Novartis wants to provide a way for diabetic patients to keep on top of their glucose levels by feeding the data back to a smartphone or tablet. Google’s original vision is also still on the table – helping restore the eye’s natural focus on near objects, restoring clear vision to those who are farsighted (presbyopia).
“Our dream is to use the latest technology in the miniaturization of electronics to help improve the quality of life for millions of people” Google co-founder Sergey Brin.
The prototypes being tested can generate a glucose reading once per second, and are used to help farsighted people as well.
Though Google is the first to tackle diabetes with a digital contact lens, they aren’t the first to start developing one as a vision aid. US researchers used graphene in a lens to detect the entire infrared spectrum with visible and ultraviolet light – enhancing human vision by increasing the number of frequencies we can detect. Chinese researchers have successfully developed an invisible electrical circuit inside a polymer used for making contact lenses. A Swiss startup Sensimed has been given the green light by the FDA for its smart contact lens that aims to tackle glaucoma, a common cause for blindness. It uses a soft silicone contact lens that’s embedded with a microsensor which can be worn for 24 hours, even during sleep. But still Verily has the biggest potentials in reaching the critical mass with such a product.
Among all of these companies, Verily has the best shot to release a widely available product – the technology is set to be released for general usage around 2019, but trials are expected to start later this year. But to launch successfully, they must learn from the failure of another Google moonshot.
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