Alphabet presents smart contact lenses for measuring glucose



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Brian Otis, Google X Project Leader, holds a corneal lens that Google was testing to explore tear glucose in 2014.
Photo: Jeff Chiu (AP)

Alphabet has interrupted a project of its biotechnology division Verely aimed at creating smart contact lenses for people with diabetes. This ambitious effort, which lasted for years, was aimed at measuring glucose levels in tears using objective sensors.

We announced on Friday in an article on his blog the decision made by Alcon to postpone the project to the foreseeable future, citing inconsistencies in its measurements between blood glucose levels and tear glucose. (In 2014, it's truly associated with the Swiss eye care company, a subsidiary of Novartis, to develop glucose-sensing contacts.)

"Our clinical work on glucose sensing lenses demonstrated that the consistency of our correlation measurements between lacrimal glucose and blood glucose concentrations was insufficient to meet the requirements of a medical device," said the company. . "This was partly related to the difficulties in obtaining reliable tear glucose measurements in the complex ocular environment."

Verily said she would continue to collaborate with Alcon on her other two Smart Lens devices: an intraocular lens designed to improve vision after cataract surgery and another for presbyopia. Alcon confirmed that the decision to stop the project was mutual.

This is a remarkable gesture for society, which has not been without warning signs. Experts and employees of Google had already criticized the project. In 2016, Stat reported that a former Verily manager had described the smart lens as a "slide show", or a project that looks good in theory but whose potential is limited to that of a presentation. Power point.

Verily told Stat: "As with any real innovation, some projects may fail and fail." Yet Verily said Friday his commitment to his other diabetes-focused projects, including other affordable glucose solutions and discreet detection methods.

[Verily via CNBC]
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