Samsung Targets Glucose Monitoring

Samsung is getting serious about health monitoring.

What’s happening: After recently unveiling its Galaxy Ring, the global electronics company said continuous glucose and blood pressure monitoring are next.

Samsung’s head of digital health Hon Pak told Bloomberg that it’s making a “significant investment” to bring this tech to market within five years.

“If we can do continuous blood pressure and glucose, we’re in a whole different ball game. We’re looking at everything from miniaturisation to the various different technology platforms that can do some type of glucose monitoring or anything in between.”

Why it matters: Racing against tech titans and emerging startups, no-prick glucose tracking and 24/7 blood pressure monitoring are the holy grail for combating heart disease, diabetes and more.

• Apple is developing needleless glucose monitoring tech for its smartwatch but lost a patent dispute with Masimo over blood oxygen monitoring.
• Swiss startup Spiden recently added $15M in funding to develop a noninvasive CGM using advanced spectroscopy, measuring glucose via light signal.
• Movano, Know Labs, HAGAR, GraphWear and others are all working to commercialise radio- and light-wave sensing devices.

Looking ahead: Noninvasive glucose and cuffless blood pressure measurements, actionable through the ubiquitous smartphone, would impact health on a global scale. And if it truly has a five-year roadmap, Samsung could spearhead a health revolution.