Gizmos & Gadgets: Diabetics Get Finger Prick and Injection Reprieve

March 22, 2016 – Seoul National University researchers in Korea, working with MC10, a Massachusetts electronics company, have developed a skin patch that reads blood glucose levels through body sweat and administers drugs transcutaneously using micro needles. This is the first device of its kind to do both detection and medication. The invention is described in the March 21, 2016 online edition of Nature Nanotechnology.

The patch, seen in the image below that appeared along with an article in yesterday’s online Daily Mail, combines graphene doped with a gold mesh to produce accurate electrochemical feedback in the form of a very stretchable wearable patch. It features two layers of gold mesh and graphene-stabilized gold nano-particles.

The electrochemical sensor measures heat, temperature, humidity, glucose and pH levels through body sweat. The micro needles are thermally activated to deliver the drug Metformin to reduce blood glucose levels. Metformin is normally an oral diabetes medication given to people suffering from Type 2 diabetes. It can be used in combination with insulin. Type 2 diabetes is associated with obesity in humans. In 2012 the World Health Organization estimated it was the cause of 1.5 million deaths.

There have been a number of inventions aimed at creating minimally invasive monitoring of blood glucose levels, but none to date have also included the ability to administer medication. This would be a first and it comes with an additional benefit. The on board electronics can store the data it receives and wirelessly transmit the information to a smartphone where it can be shared with medical staff.

Seoul National University’s partner, MC10 is a leading-edge developer of flexible biometric wearable sensors. The company combines these sensors with mobile software apps and analytical tools. It is the creator of the BioStamp(R), a flexible body-worn sensor that is used by medical researchers to study a variety of health-related issues. It appears that the new skin patch for sensing and treating Type 2 diabetes includes the surface electromyogrpahy  and Bluetooth telecommunication connectivity featured in the BioStamp.

When will this new patch, considered by Richard Guy, a professor of pharmaceutical chemistry at the UK’s Bath University, as the “holy grail” answer to diabetes management? Not yet in clinical trial it will be a few years yet but Guy remarks that this invention takes us “closer to this coveted prize.”