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More
disposable medical devices in the offing
Inventor
John Aceti sees a future filled with disposable consumer medical
products. The inventor of Songbird, the disposable hearing aid,
Aceti is currently developing a disposable device that constantly
monitors glucose levels in the blood of diabetics. The mechanical
engineer and top inventor at electronic and biomedical company Sarnoff
Corp says his latest invention, still in early stages of development,
looks like a typical wrist watch that measures glucose levels.
The
face of the watch is loaded with a month’s worth of disposable
needles, about the size of a mosquito’s stinger, that automatically
drop out of the watch and impreceptibly prick the skin to draw blood.
Glucose levels are then measured and transferred within seconds
to a personal handheld computer. At the end of the month, the diabetic
disposes of the face plate and replces it with a new one.
Aceti
said he estimates he is two years away from submitting his invention
for approval by the US Food and Drug Administration, and three years
away from marketing it.
A
similar product made by Cygnus Corp, called GlucoWatch, was recently
approved by the FDA. However rather than testing the blood, GlucoWatch
measures glucose levels collected through the skin.
Aceti
says measuring glucose from the blood is a superior method, but
it is something many diabetics avoid because it has until now been
inconvenient, painful and expensive. ‘‘It is recommended
that diabetics check their glucose levels five times a day,’’
he said. ‘‘The ultimate convenience is to never have to
draw blood and to never have pain.’’
He
reckoned the cost can be cut by roughly a third by using disposable
needles in his monitoring device. He estimates the current costs
of glucose monitoring at 80 per cents per use.
‘‘Another
advantage is that you can do incremental improvements so that the
customer who is replacing them periodically will always have the
lastest, greatest version,’’Aceti said, adding that such
advantages apply to disposable medical devices generally.
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