GlucoWatch Biographer is a consumer product that measures glucose levels frequently, automatically and non-invasively, enabling people with diabetes and health care professionals to identify trends in fluctuating glucose levels that would be difficult to detect using current testing techniques. Described as "the most significant technological breakthrough in glucose monitoring since the transition from urine dip sticks to blood meters about twenty years ago" by John C Hodgman, Chairman of developers Cygnus, Inc, the device can be used to measure glucose levels up to three times an hour, for up to twelve hours and is used to detect and assess episodes of hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia. GlucoWatch Biographer is a prescription medication in the US and is a supplement to existing home glucose monitoring devices rather than a replacement. Unlike other systems the GlucoWatch collects glucose through the skin, not from blood and has alert systems to inform users when glucose levels are not as they should be, storing up to 4,000 glucose values in an electronic diary that can be reviewed at any time as well as analysed using dedicated software program.
The GlucoWatch Biographer sells for US$595 where it was released in the April but the device is not yet available in Australia. And with the frightening statistic that the World Health Organization estimates there are 125 million people worldwide with diabetes - a number expected to double by 2025 - there will unfortunately be a need for this technology.