To Mark World Diabetes Day, Israeli Company Promotes Needle-Free Glucose Test

By NoCamels Team November 15, 2017 2 minutes

Cnoga needle-free glucometer. Photo via Cnoga Medical

To mark World Diabetes Day, the Israeli medical company Cnoga Medical is promoting its new, pain-free way to monitor blood glucose levels with the aim of easing the significant discomfort of patients who suffer from diabetes and who must track their sugar levels using a finger-pricking glucose meter a number of times a day.

Cnoga Medical‘s non-invasive glucometer “uses a camera to provide optical diagnosis of blood glucose level by observing changing color shades of the user’s finger,” the company said in a statement, released ahead of World Diabetes Day marked annually on November 14 to honor Canadian Dr. Frederick Banting, the co-discoverer of insulin, who was born on November 14, 1891.

Cnoga pain-free glucometer. Photo via Cnoga Medical

Cnoga says the device, launched last year and already approved for use in a number of countries worldwide including Italy, Brazil and China, “offers accurate blood glucose results that are comparable to those of a fingerprick,” but without the needles.

“It learns to correlate the user’s optical skin-tone characteristics with camera readings,” after a short training period, after which it “operates quickly, accurately, making tracking and compliance easier patients living with diabetes.”

“An array of light-emitting-diodes (LED) shines light in wavelengths from visual to infrared through the fingertip. As the light waves pass through the fingertip, some of it is absorbed and the reflected light signal is changed. A camera sensor detects the changes in the light signal in real time. Using patented algorithms and a vast amount of data, the device analyzes the correlation between the signal and bio parameters to yield the glucose level in the blood,” the company described.

With over 400 million people worldwide living with diabetes, according to the International Diabetes Federation, Cnoga says the device offers a promise for a better quality of life for those suffering from the disease.

Cnoga raised $50 million from Chinese company BOE for 23 percent of the Israeli company’s shares earlier this year.

Founded in 2004 by entrepreneur Dr. Joseph Segman, a PhD in mathematics, the Or Akiva-based Cnoga specializes in products that facilitate medical monitoring and processing of information on the cloud.

Segman previously founded Oplus Technologies, which was sold to Intel in 2005 for $100 million.