By Sam Boughedda
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) believes it could eventually bring a non-invasive and continuous blood glucose monitoring product to market after hitting major milestones, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.
The secret project, labeled E5, aims to measure how much glucose is in someone's body without pricking the skin for blood.
The current methods, widely used by type 1 diabetics, involve either using a blood glucose monitor that pokes the skin for a small blood sample or a sensor attached to the arm with a filament under the skin that measures the glucose levels in the body's interstitial fluid. The sensors are replaced every two weeks.
Companies such as DexCom Inc (NASDAQ:DXCM), Insulet (NASDAQ:PODD), Tandem Diabetes Care Inc (NASDAQ:TNDM), and Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) make these devices. Their share prices were impacted on Wednesday due to the Bloomberg report.
If perfected, the Apple product could be a boon to diabetics and establish Apple as a powerhouse in health care. In addition, if the device were added to the Apple Watch, it would make it a must-have item for many of the millions of diabetics around the world.
Bloomberg said its sources warned there are still years of work ahead. Its potential device is said to use a chip technology known as silicon photonics and a measurement process called optical absorption spectroscopy that uses lasers to cast specific wavelengths of light into an area just below the skin where there is interstitial fluid.
There are said to be hundreds of engineers working on the project as part of Apple's Exploratory Design Group, or XDG.
Apple's system is now considered at a proof-of-concept stage, Bloomberg said people familiar with the effort told them. However, while the tech giant believes the technology is viable, it needs to be decreased to a more practical size.