Tech majors vie for non-invasive health apps in wearable devices

Firms are hiring medical scientists and developing glucose-measuring features in wearables.

For decades, medical technology firms have searched for ways to let diabetics check blood sugar easily, with scant success. Now, the world’s largest mobile technology firms are getting in on the act.

Apple Inc, Samsung Electronics Co and Google Inc, searching for applications that could turn nascent wearable technology like smartwatches and bracelets from curiosities into must-have items, have all set their sites on monitoring blood sugar, several people familiar with the plans say.

These firms are hiring medical scientists and engineers, asking United States regulators about oversight and developing glucose-measuring features in future wearable devices, the sources said.

The first round of technology may be limited, but eventually the companies could compete in a global blood-sugar tracking market worth over $12 billion by 2017, according to research firm GlobalData.

Many diabetics prick their fingers as much as 10 times daily in order to check levels of a type of sugar called glucose.

Non-invasive technology could take many forms. Electricity or ultrasound could pull glucose through the skin for measurement, for instance, or a light could be shined through the skin so that a spectroscope could measure for indications of glucose.

“All the biggies want glucose on their phone,” said John Smith, former chief scientific officer of Johnson & Johnson’s LifeScan, which makes blood glucose monitoring supplies. “Get it right, and there’s an enormous payoff.”

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Apple, Google and Samsung declined to comment, but Courtney Lias, director at the US Food and Drug Administration’s chemistry and toxicology devices division, said a marriage between mobile devices and glucose-sensing is “made in heaven.”

In a December meeting with Apple executives, the FDA described how it may regulate a glucometer that measures blood sugar, according to an FDA summary of the discussion.

Silicon Valley is already opening its vast wallet.

Medtronic Inc senior vice president of Medicine and Technology Stephen Oesterle recently said he now considers Google to be the medical device firm’s next great rival, thanks to its funding for research and development, or R&D.

Apple’s efforts centre on its iWatch, which is on track to ship in October, sources said. It is not clear whether the initial release will incorporate glucose-tracking sensors.

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Still, Apple has poached executives and bio-sensor engineers from such medical technology firms as Masimo Corp, Vital Connect, and the now-defunct glucose monitoring startup C8 Medisensors.

Samsung is looking for partners and will allow developers to try out different sensors and software. One Samsung employee, who declined to be named, said the company expects to foster noninvasive glucose monitoring.

Sources said Samsung is working with startups to implement a “traffic light” system in future Galaxy Gear smartwatches that flashes blood-sugar warnings.

Samsung Ventures has made a number of investments in the field, including in Glooko, a startup that helps physicians access their patients’ glucose readings, and in an Israeli glucose monitoring startup through its $50 million Digital Health Fund.