Thumb pricks a thing of the past

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Thumb pricks a thing of the past


Development of technology that could save the lives of young patients with diabetes has taken a step closer with the announcement of venture capital funding of up to $4.5 million. AiMedics Pty Ltd, a spin-out company of the University of Technology, Sydney, has announced that venture capital funding of up to $4.5 million in two tranches had been agreed to between GBS Venture Partners (GBS) and the initial AiMedics investors. The new funding will be used to further the development of HypoMon®, a non invasive self-monitoring product for alerting insulin-dependent patients with diabetes of dangerously low blood sugar. Abnormally low blood sugar levels (hypoglycaemia) can be fatal for diabetics. When this happens at night the risk of death is increased as the blood is not monitored during sleep. Children under 5 years have a higher incidence of hypoglycaemia at night than older children and adults with diabetes. "I realised how important this device was when I spoke to the mother of a three year old boy who is a young patient with diabetes," UTS Professor Hung Nguyen said. "This dedicated mother would wake up and check on him every two hours during the night to make sure that her son was OK." "A device that could constantly monitor blood sugar levels and sound an alarm if they got too low would allow parents to get a good night's sleep and ease some of their worry." The novel non-invasive technologies incorporated in the HypoMon® are designed to detect the onset of hypoglycaemia with a high degree of accuracy. Periods of low blood sugar can contribute to chronic complications in diabetic patients and in severe cases can result in coma or even death. The current market for all forms of diabetes self monitoring products is estimated to be $4 billion annually and is forecast to grow to $11 billion by 2009. GBS is one of Australia's leading life sciences venture capital groups and has had considerable success in building companies based on Australian technology. The HypoMon® device has evolved through collaboration between the University of Technology, Sydney, Health Care Technology Ltd and AiMedics Pty Ltd. AiMedics was established in 2001 as a spin-out company from the University of Technology Sydney and is based around a patent portfolio created by Professor Hung Nguyen AM PhD and Dr Nejhdeh Ghevondian PhD. Thursday 12 October 2006