Needle-Free Diabetes Care

Diabetes self-care is pain—literally. It brings the continual need to draw blood for glucose testing, insulin shots are needed every day and the heightened risk of infection from all that poking. The best options for automating most of the complicated daily process of blood sugar management are continuous glucose monitors and insulin pumps– but they don't completely remove the need for skin pricks and shots-. But there's new skin in this game. Echo Therapeutics  is an improved technology that would replace the poke with a patch. The company is working on a transdermal biosensor that avoids the drawing of blood and able to read blood analytes through skin in creative ways. The technology involves a handheld electric-toothbrush-like device that removes just enough top-layer skin cells to put the patient's blood chemistry within signal range of a patch-borne biosensor. The sensor collects one reading per minute and sends the data wirelessly to a remote monitor, triggering audible alarms when levels go out of the patient's optimal range and tracking glucose levels over time.