Guardian Mobile: Medtronic’s Bluetooth-enabled CGM to send data to a smartphone app
By Adam Brown
Twitter Summary: @MDT_Diabetes working on Guardian Mobile – new CGM will send readings via Bluetooth straight to a smart phone app!
At the recent Health 2.0 conference, Medtronic demoed its in-development Guardian Mobile system, which will send real-time CGM readings straight from a transmitter to a smartphone app via Bluetooth. Medtronic believes the product will only require a sensor, a Bluetooth enabled transmitter, and a smart phone – no receiver required. The system will operate independently of an insulin pump, which is good news for anyone who injects insulin manually (~70% of people with type 1 diabetes and the vast majority of people with type 2 diabetes). Medtronic plans to start a major trial of the device later this fall, but there are no further details and no official timeline on FDA submission or a potential launch. That said, even in a virtual information vacuum – we are hopeful!
The push to send CGM data to smartphones receives increasing attention by the day, given the convenience and peace-of-mind it can offer patients and caregivers. In diaTribe #69, the great Kerri Sparling wrote about the Nightscout/CGM in the Cloud movement, a grassroots community that has “hacked” the Dexcom G4 Platinum receiver to send the real-time CGM data to the cloud and other devices. Meanwhile, Dexcom is building its own mobile-enabled products: Dexcom Share, a docking station that enables remote monitoring of the G4 Platinum, is in the final stages of FDA review, while an FDA submission of the Gen 5 system and app are expected by early 2015. Lots to look forward to in the coming years for easier ways to access and monitor CGM data – we can’t wait to see more on this development. -AJW /AB/KC
