{"id":31419,"date":"2012-12-05T09:24:47","date_gmt":"2012-12-05T14:24:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?post_type=feature&p=31419"},"modified":"2016-01-11T04:06:34","modified_gmt":"2016-01-11T09:06:34","slug":"dario-turning-your-smartphone-into-a-glucose-meter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=31419","title":{"rendered":"Dario: Turning Your Smartphone into an All-In-One Glucose Meter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last year Sanofi\u2019s iBGStar<\/a> was the talk of the town, and the Mendor<\/a> from Finland –\u00a0 a meter, lancing device, and test strips, all contained in one unit – had our attention, too.\u00a0 Today, however, a new glucose meter developed in Israel has us riveted. It\u2019s called Dario.\u00a0 This new meter has the best of iBGStar and Mendor, all rolled into one.<\/p>\n

The Dario glucose meter was created by LabStyle Innovation, a company founded in 2010, in order to implement a new patent pending technology that seeks to bring laboratory testing capabilities to consumers through smartphones in an easy, friendly and inexpensive way. \u00a0In a nutshell, the Dario turns a smartphone into a diabetes management system. The founders of LabStyle say that since the fundamental way of self-monitoring blood glucose has not really changed in more than 30 years, they believe Dario will make a big difference in diabetes care.<\/p>\n

The Dario is an integrated unit that includes a basic adapter designed to connect to the audio jack of a smartphone. When the adapter is connected, a measurement is transmitted to the smartphone, turning the phone into a glucose monitor. The Dario also includes a built in lancing device loaded with disposable lancets and an integrated cartridge holding and dispensing 25 test strips.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The adapter can be used on all iOS devices (including iPhone 5 and iPads) as well as on Android phones. There\u2019s no battery because the device harvests its power from the phone. The data collected is communicated back to the smartphone and is captured by Dario\u2019s data management system.<\/p>\n

The first thing that catches the eye when you see the Dario glucose meter is its size. The entire device including the strips and lancets is the size of a cigarette lighter.\u00a0 But as cool as the device looks (it\u2019s really cool) there are many other features which the creators of Dario are proud of.<\/p>\n

When I spoke to Dr. Oren Fuerst, CEO of Labstyle Innovations and long-time entrepreneur, he highlighted the software side of Dario which combines an app and cloud based services for remote access to the data. \u201cAbove all,\u201d he said, \u201cwe are improving the user experience on so many domains, from the look and feel of the software, through the design of the hardware and through our interactions with patients on the product website.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dario software includes the mobile app which turns the smartphone together with the adapter into a glucose meter, and a website<\/a> which is \u00a0an online database that records the users\u2019 data, analyzes it and enables a variety of means to create reports.<\/p>\n

The idea for Dario came about when Fuerst\u2019s colleague, a medical device regulatory expert and a type 2 diabetic, introduced Fuerst to Dr. David Weintraub, a director of one of Israel\u2019s medical centers and a type 2 diabetic.<\/p>\n

The two began to talk and during this meeting the core idea of Dario was born.\u00a0 \u201cIt was clear we were not going to simply have another run of the mill glucometer,\u201d Fuerst says. \u00a0\u201cWe had the potential to completely alter diabetes care as we know it.\u201d \u00a0Fuerst and Weintraub immediately gathered a team of hardware and software engineers and started to work on creating the initial prototype.<\/p>\n

They surrounded themselves with clinicians and patients on a mission to create the most well designed and most patient focused hardware and data management system on the market.<\/p>\n

What about that data management system, then?\u00a0 What makes it special?<\/p>\n

Fuerst says, \u201cLike with all parts of the system, we have focused on the user experience- the look and feel and functionality of the software is by no means less than gorgeous. The app (free download) combines features and functions that are fairly unique and advanced- both the automatic loading of the results and a local food data base and smart search function for easy data capture and calculation of the carb intake.\u201d\u00a0 The app also includes an insulin calculator and advanced reporting and data sharing tools, and the data is replicated over the web for remote access and backups. There are apps for iPhones and Android phones.<\/p>\n