Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

After 12 years of research and development, Apple has made a major breakthrough in the "lunar landing" project of non-invasive blood glucose monitoring. What is unknown is that the project began as early as the era of Steve Jobs.

Starting from yesterday, a shocking news began to brush the screen: the Apple watch will usher in an epic function-measuring blood sugar!

From then on, we can stay at home and measure our blood sugar by relying only on the watch on our wrist, and we don't have to pierce the skin in the process.

For a long time, non-invasive blood glucose monitoring has been regarded as one of the holy grails of medical research.

If the Grail is really taken off by Apple, it could become a leader in health care, upending the multibillion-dollar industry.

The "lunar landing" project, codenamed E5, has been secretly developed for 12 years, dating back to the era of Steve Jobs.

Jobs imagined that at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars, researchers had been working on ways to monitor blood sugar levels since at least 1975.

However, even after spending hundreds of millions of dollars, humans have not yet produced a clinically or commercially viable product that can monitor blood sugar accurately enough.

So, this daunting goal has been conquered by Apple?

Speaking of, the planning of this top secret project has been laid for many years.

Between 2010 and 2011, Jobs, who was ill, began to pay attention to the field of health care.

He began to come up with the idea of making health care technology, such as developing a sensor that can non-invasively and continuously monitor blood sugar levels.

Jobs once said that "smartwatches need to be very small, convenient, beautiful and powerful at the same time."

In 2017, rumors about Apple's development of non-invasive blood glucose monitoring began to surface.

In a humble office miles from Apple's headquarters, Apple has a small team of biomedical engineers.

They are part of Apple's super-secret program, smartwatch, called Apple's exploratory Design team (XDG).

Before XDG became part of the team, the project was run as Avolonte Health LLC, a startup. To outsiders, it has nothing to do with Apple.

In addition, Apple's work during human trials and the process of obtaining patents and finding partners are kept secret.

In 2010, Apple quietly acquired RareLight, a blood monitoring startup. The company touted an early non-invasive blood glucose monitoring method.

Founder Bob Messerschmidt sent Jobs an email about health sensors and wearable devices.

Messerschmidt then joined Apple's team to develop its own blood glucose monitor, originally codenamed E68.

A year after Jobs' death, Jony Ive, Apple's former chief designer, began to conceive of the Apple Watch.

Many startups and large technology companies have tried to develop a non-invasive blood glucose monitoring system, but failed.

In 2014, Google announced plans to produce smart contact lenses that can monitor blood sugar through teardrops, but shelved the complex project in 2018.

In 2015, Google also worked with Dekang's research team to develop disposable continuous blood glucose monitoring patches.

For Apple, it's different.

Tim Cook has repeatedly said he wants health care to be one of Apple's most important legacies, and there is no doubt that its hardware and software, as well as its financial resources, are sufficient to achieve that goal.

Moreover, Apple's regulatory team has held preliminary discussions on obtaining government approval for the system.

It has been revealed that Apple CEO Cook, Chief operating Officer Jeff Williams, and Apple hardware chief Eugene Kim are all involved in the project.

In addition, sources say Bob Mansfield and Michael Culbert, former senior hardware executives at Apple, are also promoters of the project.

XDG has hundreds of engineers working on the project, the mysterious equivalent of Google's X Lab (also known as the "moon landing factory").

It is said that there are far fewer people involved in the project, even less than the company's self-driving car project (overseen by a special project team) and a mixed reality head display project (developed by a technical development team).

Messerschmidt was replaced by Apple veteran Michael Hillman in 2011 and left in 15 years.

Since his departure, Avolonte Health has gradually become part of XDG, which now works near Apple Park headquarters.

Although Apple has made significant technological advances in blood sugar, it has also suffered setbacks recently:

Bill Athas, the leader of XDG and a longtime scientist and engineering director, died unexpectedly at the end of 2022.

At present, several senior leaders, including Dave Simon and Jeff Koller, report to Johny Srouji, Apple's chip director.

The prototype is similar to the iPhone non-invasive blood sugar measurement, which sounds incredible. How on earth did Apple achieve this process?

The technology they adopt is known as "silicon photonics chip technology" and "absorption spectrum monitoring program".

The system uses a laser to irradiate a specific wavelength of light to a subcutaneous area where the tissue fluid is permeated by glucose.

The light is then reflected back to the sensor by indicating the concentration of glucose. Finally, through some algorithm, determine the level of blood sugar in a person's body.

One of Apple's technology goals is to create a precaution to warn people about whether they are in pre-diabetes.

Then remind patients to change their lifestyle and avoid developing type 2 diabetes. This is what happens when the body is resistant to insulin.

Over the past decade, Apple has tested the blood sugar technology on millions of people.

In human trials, the system is used in people who don't know if they have diabetes, as well as people with prediabetes and type 2 diabetes.

In addition, Apple believes the technique is feasible by comparing it with standard tests of venous blood samples and skin prick samples.

But if you want to implement the application, you also need to reduce it to a smaller size.

Engineers are working on a prototype about the size of an iPhone that can be tied to a person's biceps.

The chips used in the prototype device are made by Taiwan accumulator, while the sensors and chips for blood sugar monitoring are developed jointly by Apple and Rockley Photonics.

In 2021, Rockley publicly disclosed its partnership with Apple and made it clear in regulatory documents that Apple was its biggest customer. Last month, Rockley filed for bankruptcy and Apple terminated its partnership.

The transformation of the "small universe" on the wrist what Apple has always wanted to do has never been as simple as a watch.

The layout behind the Apple Watch is actually the next generation of smart terminal interconnection platform that Apple is looking forward to, and health features are also the original intention of Jobs' vision.

In September 2014, Cook released the first version of Apple Watch. The watch integrates a heart rate sensor but focuses more on fitness tracking.

In 2018, Apple Watch was equipped with the ability to obtain ECG ECG from the wrist.

In 2021, Apple released the seventh generation of Apple Watch, which was updated with a larger display and a range of features designed specifically for people with disabilities.

During the outbreak, Apple introduced the ability to monitor blood oxygen saturation throughout the day.

In addition to the routine items such as health tracking and monitoring irregular heart rate, Apple's new Apple Watch S8, which was unveiled at its launch last fall, also brings more new features in health, security and connectivity.

It has always been a challenge to change the rules of the game to achieve accurate blood glucose monitoring.

TerranceGregg, executive chairman of DexCom, has said that in order to monitor blood sugar accurately, the company's research and development needs to spend hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars.

According to the National Diabetes Statistics report 2020, nearly 35 million people in the United States have diabetes.

This figure accounts for about 10% of the population of the United States, and that number is growing.

At present, the most common blood glucose test tool on the market is blood sampling after skin puncture.

But there are also products that monitor blood sugar by inserting patches into the skin, such as Dexcom and Abbott Laboratories, which need to be replaced about every two weeks.

If Apple can bring this feature to market, it will be a boon for millions of diabetics around the world. Their lives will be completely changed overnight.

As long as you have an Apple Watch, you can monitor your blood sugar levels at any time and be reminded of abnormalities, which is a dream come true.

At present, there is still years of work to be done on this project in the future.

Steve Jobs, which has passed away, has always had a strong vision for the intersection of health care and technology, and Apple executives have been trying to pass it on.

So, will the smart watch be the "Next big thing" that Apple has been looking for?

Reference:

Https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-22/apple-watch-blood-glucose-monitor-could-revolutionize-diabetes-care-aapl

Https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-reportedly-hits-major-milestone-on-blood-glucose-monitor-2023-2

Https://www.idropnews.com/rumors/apples-most-secretive-project-is-non-invasive-blood-glucose-monitoring-and-its-almost-ready/191982/

Https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2017/04/12/apple-working-on-glucose-sensors-diabetes-treatment.html

This article comes from the official account of Wechat: Xin Zhiyuan (ID:AI_era)

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