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Carlos Kiyan is one of my closest colleagues and friends. Carlos pointed me in the direction of the painless GlucoReader that monitors blood glucose levels via micro-needles (which have been tested for the flue before). Painless glucose monitoring immediately got my attention, as the glucose finger stick pricking is PAINFUL and a bit difficult to do depending on the situation (one should not do it while driving a car!).
Four engineering students got their heads together and came up with a start-up company that would allow diabetics to monitor their glucose via a micro-needle patch which sends the blood glucose level to an android and/or iphone smartphone. The transmission is done via bluetooth, which is used for other diabetic innovations as well. The start-up is located in Boston, US.
The estimated price would be around 500 - 600 USD which is somewhat affordable (I would gladly donate one to someone I know on top of the one I would be using if it would decrease the finger-prick pain. It is a US invention, so not sure if it will be available outside of the US, but ... I would fly over and get it if I could. It is still in the R&D-phase, the engineering team has only started their trial period and it will still take a year before any FDA approval (Food and Drug Administration) could get the production going, but still ... it is worthwhile following. For easy following: follow them on twitter via @mobilifeinc