A painless patch that continuously sends your health status to your phone will soon be a reality, thanks to a team of researchers at the University of Waterloo. The big breakthrough comes in a small package and would be a healthcare breakthrough for diabetes patients who largely have to endure the inconvenience of needle pricks. “They monitor their blood glucose level usually by using the finger prick glucose meters,” said Mahla Poudineh, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering. Continuous glucose monitors in the form of wearable patches that penetrate skin have been developed before. But what’s on the market now needs some work, according to the team of bright minds. “They’re using metallic and solid needles, which are usually four millimetres. And they would go into the skin. So these are painful because they can touch the nerves,” said Poudineh. Instead, they’ve developed new hydrogen microneedle patches, which are less than one millimetre long. So when they penetrate the skin, they don’t touch any nerves and allow for patients to apply the patches themselves. “The interstitial fluid is another body fluid that we have beneath the skin. It has a good resemblance to blood, especially for biomarkers like ketones and glucose and lactate as well,” said PhD student Sadegh Sadeghzadeh. The added comfort allows the patches to be worn constantly, which helps reduce the risk of serious conditions. “If the ketone levels go up, there is a condition called diabetic ketoacidosis,” said Poudineh. “And again, there is no continuous ketone sensor yet.” The idea is to have the data transferred through the patch and a chip to users’ smartphones, or have it uploaded to the cloud for physicians. “So we’re looking for a lifetime of probably 10 to 14 days for them,” said Poudineh. “But the disposable part is the part that would cost around $1. So the reusable parts would be probably around $100 each. But that’s a one time cost basically.” Researchers say the current continuous monitoring patches alone cost upwards of $100 each, which are far more expensive than what they will offer. This new and improved patch can be used for more than just diabetes patients too thanks to a partnership with McMaster University. “[Like] the monitoring of lactate in athletes. So athletes need to monitor their lactate to optimize performance. But currently the way they are doing that, they need to stop their exercise, prick their fingers,” said Poudineh. To bring the technology to the market, the team recently launched a spin-off company called Aptec Health. It’s a move they hope will change healthcare forever.
