Google is collaborating with the Alcon eye care unit of Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis to license the smart lens technology. Under the agreement, Novartis and Google will team up to develop an actual smart lens to helping diabetics better manage their condition.
People with diabetes has to constantly monitor their blood glucose levels by pricking their finger with needles. Google's smart lens technology will provide a less invasive solution as it measures the tear fluid in the eye to track the glucose levels. The readings are then sent wirelessly to the user via a smartphone.
The smart lens technology will also help people with presbyopia, a disease in which the eye loses its ability to autofocus making it difficult to see objects that are close. The smart lens tech could correct vision by trying to restore the eye's autofocus capability through a contact or intraocular lens.
The smart contact lens have tiny sensors and microchips that according to Google are "so small they look like bits of glitter," while the embedded antenna is "thinner than a human hair."
Project co-founders Brian Otis and Babak Parviz stated in a blog post in January, when Google unveiled its prototype contact lens, "We're now testing a smart contact lens that's built to measure glucose levels in tears using a tiny wireless chip and miniaturized glucose sensor that are embedded between two layers of soft contact lens material. We're testing prototypes that can generate a reading once per second."
Novartis CEO, Joseph Jimenez stated, "We are looking forward to working with Google to bring together their advanced technology and our extensive knowledge of biology to meet unmet medical needs. This is a key step for us to go beyond the confines of traditional disease management, starting with the eye."
The partnership will help reshape healthcare technology by helping patients monitor their own health and lowering the costs of managing chronic diseases. Novartis CEO Joseph Jimenez stated that the product could be on the market in about five years' time. He added that the new technology could also help in other areas including remote patient monitoring in heart failure.
Source: Reuters
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