App/device combo tackles poor diabetes management

With the number of confirmed cases of diabetes having doubled in the past 20 years to 380 million with three million sufferers in the UK alone, it is a rapidly growing health crisis.

Now a final-year design student Oscar Daws from Brunel University London has come up with a streamlined device which has been selected for a prestigious exhibition on London’s South Bank and aims to vastly improve patients’ self-management of the disease.

Daws explained: “Current products treat glucose testing and insulin injection as separate processes, even though they should often be conducted together. They also nearly all rely on a large number of fiddly consumables to function – the main reasons behind poor management of the condition. 

“My solution - Gluco Duo – is a vastly improved glucose meter which works by simply opening the cap and pushing on a pad with no need for fiddly test strips or a separate finger pricker and a connected insulin pen, which work seamlessly together via a custom smartphone app.

“The days of recording glucose readings and insulin doses are over, Gluco Duo works like you’d expect a 21st century device to -  and does both automatically. The system required the sympathetic design of apps, products and technical mechanisms in order to deliver value to both patients, and healthcare professionals.”

The Made in Brunel Exhibition will be taking place between Thursday June 18 and Sunday June 21 in London, where Daws’ project is just one of more than 100 inspiring and innovative products showcased.