Glucotrack Adds Neuromodulation Expert to Clinical Advisory Team

Glucotrack Inc. has named Usman Latif, M.D., to its clinical advisory team to provide strategic counsel as the company advances its epidural glucose monitoring applications alongside its continuous blood glucose monitor (CBGM).

“Dr. Latif is a prominent pain management specialist and opinion leader with deep expertise in neuromodulation and treatment of Painful Diabetic Neuropathy (PDN). His knowledge in pain management and product design will be invaluable as we advance integrated disease and device management solutions for PDN patients,” Glucotrack President/CEO Paul V. Goode, Ph.D., said.

Dr. Latif is an associate professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Pain and Perioperative Medicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center and a board-certified anesthesiologist at The University of Kansas Health System. Dr. Latif earned his medical degree from the University of Kansas and completed residencies in internal medicine at Wake Forest University and anesthesiology at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He then completed a fellowship in interventional pain management at Harvard/Massachusetts General Hospital.

Dr. Latif previously served as faculty at Yale University School of Medicine, where he worked as a sub-investigator at the Pfizer Clinical Research Unit. He also holds an MBA and earned a certificate in value-based healthcare from Harvard Business School. Dr. Latif has published extensively in novel research, clinical guidelines, and textbook chapters and his research focuses on neuromodulation, innovative technology applications, artificial intelligence (AI), and data-driven medical advances.

“I’m excited to join Glucotrack’s clinical advisory team and help integrate glucose sensing directly into spinal cord stimulator leads,” Dr. Latif stated. “For patients with PDN, managing their condition often involves multiple devices and disjointed streams of information. Glucotrack’s vision of integrating continuous glucose monitoring into proven pain management therapies like spinal cord stimulation could be a significant advancement in integrated care. It’s an honor to help guide the development of a technology that could simplify care, empower physicians with better data, and ultimately improve outcomes for these patients.”

PDN is a progressive neurological disorder that affects approximately one-fifth of the more than 38 million Americans with diabetes, equating to more than 7 million individuals.^1,2 Its symptoms include pain and numbness in the feet, legs, and hands which can significantly impact patients’ quality of life and functional ability.³ Recently, spinal cord stimulation (SCS) technology has been indicated as a treatment option providing significant long-term pain relief to these patients.⁴ A spinal cord stimulator is an implanted device, with electrodes placed in the epidural space, that sends low levels of electricity directly into the spinal cord to relieve pain.⁵ Glucotrack’s sensing technology has the potential to be integrated into existing SCS devices to measure epidural glucose in patients with PDN who decide to undergo SCS treatment.

Following Glucotrack’s announcement in April 2024 of its expansion into epidural glucose monitoring, the company has successfully completed a long-term preclinical study demonstrating the feasibility and safety of glucose monitoring in the epidural space. This technology builds on Glucotrack’s glucose sensing capabilities developed for its CBGM platform.

Glucotrack Inc. designs, develops, and commercializes technologies for diabetics. The company is currently developing a long-term implantable continuous blood glucose monitoring system for people living with diabetes. Glucotrack’s Continuous Blood Glucose Monitor (CBGM) is a long-term, implantable system that continually measures blood glucose levels with a sensor longevity of three years, no on-body wearable component, and with minimal calibration. The Glucotrack CBGM is an investigational device and is limited by U.S. law to investigational use.

References
¹ Abbott CA, Malik RA, van Ross ER, Kulkarni J, Boulton AJ. Prevalence and characteristics of painful diabetic neuropathy in a large community-based diabetic population in the U.K. Diabetes Care 2011;34:2220–2224.
² Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022). National Diabetes Statistics Report website. https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/data/statistics-report/index.html
³ Schmader KE. Epidemiology and impact on quality of life of postherpetic neuralgia and painful diabetic neuropathy. Clin J Pain. 2002;18(6):350-354. doi:10.1097/00002508-200211000-00002.
⁴ Erika A. Petersen, Thomas G. Stauss, James A. Scowcroft, Elizabeth S. Brooks, Judith L. White, Shawn M. Sills, Kasra Amirdelfan, Maged N. Guirguis, Jijun Xu, Cong Yu, Ali Nairizi, Denis G. Patterson, Kostandinos C. Tsoulfas, Michael J. Creamer, Vincent Galan, Richard H. Bundschu, Neel D. Mehta, Dawood Sayed, Shivanand P. Lad, David J. DiBenedetto, Khalid A. Sethi, Johnathan H. Goree, Matthew T. Bennett, Nathan J. Harrison, Atef F. Israel, Paul Chang, Paul W. Wu, Charles E. Argoff, Christian E. Nasr, Rod S. Taylor, David L. Caraway, Nagy A. Mekhail; Durability of High-Frequency 10-kHz Spinal Cord Stimulation for Patients With Painful Diabetic Neuropathy Refractory to Conventional Treatments: 12-Month Results From a Randomized Controlled Trial. Diabetes Care 5 January 2022; 45 (1): e3–e6. https://doi.org/10.2337/dc21-1813
⁵ Dydyk AM, Tadi P. Spinal Cord Stimulator Implant. [Updated 2023 Jul 3]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK555994/