Sugar Trac

[KLD]

Someone on my other diabetes forum posted this today, and it looks pretty exciting, if it turns out to be accurate:

http://www.sugartrac.us/

http://www.nfb.org/vod/vodfal0402.htm
IP Logged

Apparently, the woman who answered the toll free number on their site said it might be available sometime next year. It is in the trial phase at Harvard and awaiting FDA approval. They hope to have more information at the end of January 2005.

Karen

[nantomsuethom]

That is something I would definately look into for Thomas. He still tests his sugar a million times a day!!

[MarkMunday]

Sounds great. But having to repeatedly pay for a code to make the device work is very cheeky!

[KLD]

We'll have to keep our fingers crossed that it doesn't turn out to be a big disappointment. It sounds very promising, though, and it seems to be further along in the development stage than many of these types of things are when we hear about them.

Karen

[KLD]

Originally posted by MarkMunday
Sounds great. But having to repeatedly pay for a code to make the device work is very cheeky! You're right about that, Mark, but it's still a lot less expensive than buying strips. Although, come to think of it, strips might become a lot less expensive if they're competing against this device.

Karen

[koblenz]

Trust me, if they go with the subscription "code" model, it will be hacked inside of 6 months!

Not that I am advocating that sort of behaviour... :- ;)

[lgvincent]

It looks interesting!

[Dewey]

I would love to have been on the trial for this one (and every other cool gizmo for us Diabetics)...hehehe :D

So Koblenz, will ya hook us up with some codes if ya get 'em (after this monitor comes out)? LOL...(Just kidding). ;)

[JJ7]

Wow, this seems a big step forward in testing. Probably expensive to start with though unless, er, um, you had the code
:whistling


JJ

[rzrbks]

Trust me, if they go with the subscription "code" model, it will be hacked inside of 6 months!

Not that I am advocating that sort of behaviour... :- ;)



Butters , How could you??

[gettingby]

Originally posted by rzrbks
Butters , How could you??
LOL Rzr. Leave it to "our" Butters to even suggest that(I know Butters is an angel. LOL). Bad Bad Butters !!!!!!!!!!
LMAO
Cin:-

[David]

We saw this demonstrated at this years AADE Indianapolis convention and were impressed and hopeful that this will work. There were a couple of things that bothered us about it. The rep wouldn't allow us to try it out and wouldn't use it on us. He said that that the FDA forbids doing that with as yet unapproved devices even though he was using it on his own ear. We discussed this later and thought that maybe he had a mock up meter to show the concept, not a working model, and it wouldn't be a good idea testing diabetics with it. We also wondered about its claimed 90% accuracy (better than most meters). The rep said it has to be periodically (I don't remember how often) calibrated with a meter and test strip. The accuracy of present off the shelf meters can vary 20% or so, so its accuracy would be limited by the accuracy of the calibration meter minus its own variation. Maybe they'll have special super-accurate calibration meters/strips made for that purpose, but expect to pay for any superior technology.
David

[koblenz]

Oh pleazzzzzz....

Even if I were inclined to do such a thing... You show me any piece of software that uses a "code" based authentication system, and it is hacked within a few days of release!

[gettingby]

Sorry Butters. No harm intended. I was only kidding. I know you are an angel.
Cin:-

[koblenz]

I know, no offense taken. I was mostly poking fun at RZR! He he he he

I was out of town and in a hurry. Just wanted to give a quick reply.

[Dewey]

Thanks for the info. David. Those definitely are drawbacks (the wait and possibility of accuracy issues). I know that the medical community has policies and such, but it would have been cool if he would have let ya try it out...if for no other reason, to see how it would feel on you.

:topic: :D LOL, Koblenz (I mean, Butters ;) )... By the way, how is (was?) your trip?

[Funnygrl]

I'm not that excited. It doesn't fully replaced finger stick testing, and it doesn't seem to be continuous. If it is continuous, who wants to walk around with something on their ear all the time. And the actually meter looks bigger than a pump.

[KLD]

A member of my other diabetes forum contacted the manufacturer of the Sugar Trac and received the following reply by e-mail:

Thank you for your email requesting information about the SugarTrac IX3000 NON-invasive blood glucose monitoring system by Lifetrac Systems, Inc. The SugarTrac blood glucose monitoring system is not yet available for purchase. Lifetrac has been working hard to refine the meter by miniaturizing the size to that of a cell phone, decreasing the testing time to about 10 seconds, and finalizing the clinical studies as final FDA approval is sought.

Tell me more about yourself. Do you have diabetes or know someone who does? How did you hear about the SugarTrac monitor?

This new technology is very exciting and revolutionary. Lifetrac Systems would like to keep you informed and will issue up-dates as soon as they are available. I will add your email address to the data base for future updates. If there is additional contact information that you would prefer us to have on file, please email it to me.

Lifetrac Systems, Inc. appreciates your interest and anticipation of the SugarTrac IX 3000 NON invasive blood glucose monitoring system.

Sincerely,
Bonita Peters, RN, CDE
Director of Clinical Operations


Karen

[archimeech]

yada, yada, yada.....
I want a watch that works as well as that fictitious one in Panic Room!

They'll wind up curing the **** disease before they do anything so amazing in regards to monitoring. (or so we all hope!):)

Oh yes, and Butters, those code generators would make a lovely christmas gift!

[JasonJayhawk]

I e-mailed them, too, about a week ago, and received a very similar cut-and-paste message from Bonita. Some parts of the message had been customized.

She had no date for when the device would be submitted for FDA approval (which, in my experience of engineering, would indicate that it's at least a year before they submit). Good technology companies (e.g., ones that haven't failed) typically have roadmap dates for their product line...

Also, search the Google Groups (newsgroups) for SugarTrac to find more discussions -- organize by date, and you'll see that the inventor even wrote in one of the groups to announce the product in the late 1990's.

There is a patent in the US Patent Office, which I read. Just because it exists and was given a patent doesn't mean it actually exists or that it even works.

One of the people in the newsgroup even said that they saw the product but that the demonstrator claimed that the FDA would strictly forbid allowing the earpiece to be clipped on to the ear (even for a second). It was more likely that the device was a non-working demo that simply showed random acceptable glucose values.

On another interesting note, Bonita Peters, the responder of the e-mail, happens to have the same last name as one of the developers of the product. That might go to say that the company is either very small and family is helping to run it -- or that it's coincidence that the last names are the same.

I'm quite a skeptic that such a system can work. Water molecules will interfere with most wavelengths of light (a simple lesson in physics) -- that's why they are using the ear -- lack of sweat glands. Unfortunately, even the smallest degree of oil on the skin can throw off light reflections.

I'm also concerned that perhaps the device will never exist, and is simply a sinkhole for money from venture capitalists, since it's all being done by private funding.

If this device does make it to market and succeed, it will be a landmark invention and revolutionize diabetes care, especially for Type 1's. Thus, this device is an easy sale to potential investors. However, there's a chance that this is just vaporware, and could be one of the many products that have failed to reach reality.

After all, when they claimed that the device was going to be manufactured, they discovered that the main processor chip was no longer available. This truely does happen in the world of embedded computers -- new processors come to market, leaving companies to adapt to a new language to develop on a new platform. However, it seems odd that it has taken so long to develop. They also claim that they are working on a "voice recognition" part of the processor. It sounds like they are trying to add too many bells and whistles to their first product -- it would seem that a simple meter, providing a blood glucose reading on an LCD screen or LED display, would be more than enough for the first edition of the product...after all, products exist for blind people that would enable them to read the LCD screen with a third party hand-held device (which also works on clocks, VCR's, and so on).

I'm skeptical that we'll ever see this device, but I am hopeful.

[KLD]

Interesting comments, Jason. Thanks.

Karen