A small Welsh company is being tipped to make a huge impact on the global diabetes community with a non-invasive, real-time continuous glucose monitor.
With more than 463 million people worldwide believed to have diabetes, the Afon Technology device, a portable, non-invasive, real-time continuous glucose monitor, is seen a potential breakthrough.
It is hoped the product from the Chepstow-based Afon Technology "will completely radicalise the lives of those who have diabetes".
The company says its device will go one step further than the FreeStyle Libre. Unlike the Libre, it will measure blood glucose levels without the need to penetrate the skin at all, making it easier to manage the condition and therefore reducing the risk of diabetes-related complications such as heart attack, stroke, blindness, kidney failure and limb amputations.
Preliminary clinical research has given developers hope that such a device could become a reality in the near future.
Professor de Vries, medical director at Profil, the diabetes research organisation in Germany who specialises in internal medicine and endocrinology, and is a principal investigator at the University of Amsterdam’s Faculty of Medicine (AMC-UvA), said: “We evaluated the Afon device under both hyper-and hypoglycaemic conditions during the clinical trials and we were surprised and excited by the possibilities of this technology.”
The product will be designed to alert the user when they have high and low glucose levels and will also help to monitor personalised health trends.
The smart technology has been designed to fit inside a wristwatch strap to communicate with the user’s choice of smartwatch or smart device. With no replaceable parts it will be cheaper than other current diabetes technologies available on the market which rely on replacement patches and needles.
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Afon Technology’s CEO Sabih Chaudhry said: “Our taskforce of experts are world-class and together we’re proud to be developing a global first. Our recent clinical trials have gone really well and we’re excited to be bringing this device, which is the next big thing in diabetes technology, to people very soon.
“Diabetes can be incredibly limiting to someone’s life, but we believe we’ve created a device which will provide the wonderful feeling of freedom all wrapped up in a watch on the wrist.”
It is hoped the device, which is set to undergo another round of clinical trials, will be available to purchase from mid-2022.
Afon Technology says research has found that £5.5bn of the NHS hospitals budget is spent on diabetes, and poor diabetes control was responsible for £3bn in potentially avoidable hospital treatment in England in the year 2017-2018.