Sources: Apple hit major milestones in a Jobs-era project to develop noninvasive blood glucose monitoring, part of its Alphabet X-like Exploratory Design Group
Apple Inc. has a moonshot-style project underway that dates back to the Steve Jobs era: noninvasive and continuous blood glucose monitoring.
BloombergMark Gurman
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple’s reported milestones extend a glucose-monitoring effort that had already moved into feasibility trials at Bay Area clinical sites after Apple assembled a biomedical-engineering team. The work is now situated in the Exploratory Design Group, a unit also associated with technology that reached Apple’s iPhone and Mac lines.
The later reporting around the group makes the project more than an isolated health experiment: Apple has maintained an advanced-development organization around it, while separately testing a food and lifestyle app for people with prediabetes.
First-order effects
Apple’s Exploratory Design Group has a reported technical milestone in a long-running noninvasive, continuous glucose-monitoring program, strengthening the case to keep advancing the research internally.
Second-order effects
Apple’s blood-sugar work now spans both sensor research and a later prediabetes-focused software test, creating a path for its health teams to connect measurement with lifestyle guidance rather than treat them as separate efforts.
Third-order effects
If that paired development persists, Apple’s health strategy will increasingly be organized around proprietary sensing technologies supported by software services, with the Exploratory Design Group serving as the bridge from research to product teams.
The trend: Apple is building blood-sugar capabilities through parallel long-horizon sensor research and health-software experimentation.
“.. Hundreds of engineers are working on the project .. one of the most covert initiatives at the famously secretive Apple ..” @business @markgurman $AAPL https://www.bloomberg.com/...
Learn more about how @Apple is making progress producing a non invasive glucose monitoring watch which will prevent patients with diabetes having to prick themselves to produce a blood sample in order to measure their blood sugar. https://twitter.com/...
Seems premature to be taking out Dexcom on this news—it was down 3%—given that the precision of Apple's glucose monitor will likely be low, but markets are emotional things. Apple Makes Major Progress on No-Prick Blood Glucose Tracking for Its Watch https://www.bloomberg.com/...
“After hitting major milestones recently, the company now believes it could eventually bring glucose monitoring to market, according to people familiar with the effort.” I will buy an iphone and iwatch literally the instant it can do this https://www.bloomberg.com/...
This is a good reminder that while Apple is working on this tech, it is still years away from showing up in a product and will be more helpful for generalities or pre-diabetics than actual #T1D users. Still exciting though! https://twitter.com/...
Enormous development for $AAPL's staying power in healthcare. But, does that put them in the hot seat for regulatory scrutiny — antitrust and now FDA? $ABT and $DXCM lower on the day off the news. https://twitter.com/...
No. If the application is wrist-worn device, has no capability of achieving constant contact, emit a diagnostic readout, ergo no 10-Q FDA level II medical reimbursement etc. Ideally would want physician prescribable device, else still consumer good, app-driven, doesnt expand TAM …
'Engineers are working to develop a prototype device about the size of an iPhone that can be strapped to a person's bicep.' I don't know, that sounds a bit bulky https://www.bloomberg.com/...
With a Jobs-era moonshot project, Apple is making major progress on a no-prick blood glucose monitoring system for the Apple Watch. Big scoop by @markgurman: https://www.bloomberg.com/... via @technology
NEW: Apple has a secret moonshots team and it's making significant progress on a major new initiative: no-prick glucose monitoring for the Apple Watch. All of the details, including how Apple has hid its work behind a fake startup, here: https://www.bloomberg.com/...