PKvitality, a company based outside of Paris, France, has announced that it’s getting ever closer to unveiling the world’s first glucose measuring smartwatch. The K’Watch Glucose, as it’s expected to be called, features the company’s patented SkinTaste technology that samples glucose from the skin and K’apsul biosensor that does the measuring. The biosensor has to be replaced every so often, and so will have to be purchased regularly as a consumable.
The watch is supposed to be able to continue measure glucose levels in real-time, providing results when needed and eventually triggering alarms to warn users of abnormal levels. This would be done on the watch and through a paired smartphone.
“PKvitality’s patient centric DNA is revealed in every K’Watch Glucose development’s detail. With PKvitality we conducted face to face usability tests with T1D patients, an approach that is still too rare at this stage of development of medical devices”, says Remy Leroy, head of diabetology in Hospital La Louvière Lille.
The company says it has seven patents pending related to its technology and in vivo testing has shown promising results. The K’Watch Glucose was an honoree at last year’s CES and also the winner of the “Best of Innovation” award.
Any excitement felt about this technology should come with a good deal of skepticism, as bold claims about accurate and painless glucometers have been made in the past.
Here’s a promo video for the yet-to-be-released device. Do note that the video shows it being activated to make individual readings, but the company has just confirmed that this won’t be necessary and the measurements will be continuous:
Via: PKvitality…