This is outstanding news -- a new diabetes meter will be introduced in January which will eliminate the need for finger sticks and test strips, eliminated a major quality-of-life issue for diabetics. My wife, who has been diabetic for 40 years, told me about this a few minutes ago, and I found this incomplete site on the Internet:

The first TRULY Non-invasive Glucose Monitor.

* Pain Free
* Blood Free
* Strip Free

Easy to use, SugarTrac IX3000 is a glucose monitoring system that, with no discomfort and no sensation, uses light waves to measure glucose levels.

A one step process involves using a small, lightweight earpiece attached by a cord to a monitor. When the earpiece is simply placed on the earlobe, and the "TEST" button is pushed, the monitor screen displays the glucose result in 30 seconds or less... without blood or fluid of any kind.

Note that all links on this site are non-functional; the site will be made operational in January. However, the Fall 2003 edition of The Voice of the Diabetic, which my wife gets on tape, has this to say about the new meter:

In FDA Phase III clinicals, the device appeared acceptably accurate: 88 percent of standard (80 percent is required minimum accuracy), and the prototype has held up well in a hospital environment. ... Big news: LifeTrac intends to include speech capability in this meter. A company representative said the speech chip had already been chosen, and would be present in version 2 of the SugarTrac -- which would appear three to six months after the initial production. This machine will talk, they promise.

The speech function is very, very welcome (my wife is blind). Most meter manufacturers don't integrate voice capabilities into their meters; they rely on third-party technology to allow blind diabetics to self-test. This gets pretty expensive for everyone and never works very well. The First Mate's current meter system often has timing problems between the meter and the voice module. Beyond that, the issue of getting the blood properly on the strip will be eliminated by this system, which is another chronic issue for blind diabetics. Also, no more messy used blood strips to get all over the place!

Very exciting! We'll be looking for the meter next month, and we'll get the voice one later on and use the first as the "traveling" meter. (We do the same thing now.) I'll post later on as more news comes in.

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