Results from a new study published in the Diabetes and Obesity journal show the potential of Alertgy’s noninvasive continuous blood glucose monitoring wristband.
More importantly, this new development shows that noninvasive blood glucose monitoring could be here much sooner than we think.
Alertgy’s wristband, DeepGluco NICBGM device, takes advantage of dielectric spectroscopy to decipher blood glucose values.
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The study evaluated the performance of this novel wristband device from Alertgy and compared it with an FDA-approved glucose meter in patients with type 2 diabetes.
The wristband measures changes in the dielectric spectrum it collects specific to blood glucose levels three times a minute. The spectral data is then analyzed using complex neural networks, machine learning. Then a calibration process is used to estimate blood glucose values once the system is calibrated to the individual.
Although the cohort size for the study was limited (n = 27), the published results show the potential.
Each listed device was evaluated against an SBGM system to develop the provided MARD (Mean absolute relative difference) values. 
Alertgy’s NICBGM DeepGluco device provides equivalent accuracy according to the results of this limited study. It also offers the advantages of no interstitial lag, non-invasive measurement, and a sensor life measured in years instead of days and is less costly to use.
Diabetes affects over 30 million people in the US. Most patients living with Diabetes require frequent self-monitoring of blood glucose and use fingerstick glucose measurements for self-monitoring. However, fingerstick testing can lead to anxiety and non-adherence with home testing.
A proven FDA-approved noninvasive blood glucose monitoring device could be the holy grail for millions of people who have diabetes and those who are pre-diabetic and want to follow a healthy lifestyle to manage their health outcomes proactively.
When will this device be made available?
According to the company’s website,
“Our goal is to have the device available for purchase no later than 2022.
The technology works, and we are currently building a prototype. The Alertgy team will be refining this prototype over the next two years, with the input of people with diabetes like you, to make sure that it meets your needs.
We will also make sure that it meets the requirements of the FDA. Our goal is for the device to provide better readings than is currently possible using test strips and glucometers on the market.”
We have reached out to Alertgy to learn more about the platform and the company’s plans around new validation studies following the results from this limited study but haven’t heard back from the company.
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It is so good to see progress being made in the field of non-invasive glucose monitoring. Count me in on the initial purchase group! Apple and Samsung seem to have dropped the ball on their respective efforts. So I’m more than ready to adopt whatever technology makes it to the marketplace.