Rockley Photonics Advancing Non-Invasive Blood Glucose Monitoring

Rockley Photonics is making significant progress towards developing noninvasive glucose sensing technology through its proprietary silicon photonics platform. The technology platform enables short-wave infrared (SWIR) spectroscopy to be translated to a miniaturized, wearable form factor capable of making noninvasive biomarker measurements in humans. Through a combination of benchtop sensor verification with both simulated human skin and during preliminary human studies, the company has engineered the SWIR platform to measure glucose.

“We are excited that our unique PIC technology is enabling us to noninvasively and accurately measure unique biomarkers in a very small form factor,”  Rockley Photonics Chairman/CEO Dr. Andrew Rickman stated. “The results confirm that Rockley’s integrated silicon photonic technology and novel processing of the SWIR signal offers a unique opportunity to realize the goal of a wearable, noninvasive glucose sensor for a host of medical applications.”
 
Recent measurements performed using Rockley’s PIC technology in a benchtop version with a complex simulated tissue model showed the technology can measure glucose with an accuracy of 5mg/dL. The results of an initial IRB-approved study involving 40 Type I and Type II diabetics over a 10-week period also demonstrated significant progress towards developing a noninvasive wearable glucose monitor. The study was conducted with attention to avoid spurious correlations and allowed for critical technology performance characteristics to be determined.
 
“Rockley has been open with the details of their data and subsequent analysis and invited my critique of all aspects of their work. Rockley has assembled a team around the system design, quantitative algorithm development, and clinical experimental design,” said Mark A. Arnold, Ph.D., the Edwin B. Green Chair in Laser Chemistry, professor of chemistry and director of the Center for Biocatalysis and Bioprocessing (CBB) at the University of Iowa and leading contributor to Rockley’s Scientific Advisory Board. “Rockley has demonstrated that its technology can enable a sensor that has the requisite radiant powers, wavelength range, and optical resolution needed to make these difficult measurements in real-world products.”
 
Rockley is a global leader in photonics-based health monitoring, invested in discovering new ways to measure important biometrics using novel sensing techniques. The Pasadena, Calif.-based firm is developing photonic integrated circuits, sensors, and full-stack solutions. From next-generation biosensing platforms to mobile health monitoring, Rockley is laying the foundation for a new era of precision medicine.