Google, Novartis to Develop Smart Contacts

The technologically advanced eyewear monitors blood sugar concentrations in diabetic patients.

Written byBob Grant
| 2 min read

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GOOGLEInternet giant Google and pharmaceutical company Novartis are joining forces to develop a high-tech contact lens that will be able to monitor blood sugar levels in people with diabetes, Novartis announced in a statement released Tuesday (July 15).

Google announced the creation of a prototype of the smart lens in January. “We’re now testing a smart contact lens that’s built to measure glucose levels in tears using a tiny wireless chip and miniaturized glucose sensor that are embedded between two layers of soft contact lens material,” the company said in a January 16 post on its official blog. “We’re testing prototypes that can generate a reading once per second.”

Six months later, Alcon, Novartis’s eye care unit, has licensed the technology from GoogleX, the research division within the Internet company that tackles global technological problems, with the goal of pushing the smart lens onto the market. “We are looking forward to working with Google to bring together their advanced technology and our extensive ...

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  • From 2017 to 2022, Bob Grant was Editor in Chief of The Scientist, where he started in 2007 as a Staff Writer. Before joining the team, he worked as a reporter at Audubon and earned a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University. In his previous life, he pursued a career in science, getting a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from Montana State University and a master’s degree in marine biology from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Bob edited Reading Frames and other sections of the magazine.

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