Medella Plans to Take on Google, Microsoft in Building a Smart Contact Lens

​Medella, a medical technology startup, is joining the growing competition — which includes the likes of Google and Microsoft — seeking to manufacture and enhance a “smart contact lens” for people with diabetes.

The goal is for the device to measure glucose levels found in moisture surrounding the eye, thanks to a pint-sized biosensor stored in the center of the lens.

MIT Technology Review’s Caleb Garling writes that a “circuit will process and transmit the data” the biosensor collects “via an antenna to a small device which may attach to the patient’s collar, glasses, or a necklace.” The final part of the process involves transmitting the information from this attachment to smartphone or similar gadget with Bluetooth capabilities so an application can store the stats and examine the data.

Medella Founder Harry Gandhi told Garling that the company’s smart contact lens is still in a prototype phase, but declined to mention specifically when it would be market-ready. His team is currently building their own app to manage the data collected from the lens as well as refining the functionality for type 1 and type 2 diabetics.

Google unveiled the first prototype of its glucose-monitoring contact lens last year as part of the company’s foray into the biotech sector whereas Microsoft’s research arm is also experimenting with their own lens.

Medella’s creation will operate in a similar manner as Google’s and Microsoft’s: by monitoring glucose levels in the eye and sending the information back to a wireless device capable for analysis.

However, Gandhi told Garling Medella’s product will be different from competitors because it will provide a sensor that doesn’t need consistent calibration, and also deliver longer battery life.

Although these lenses are being developed as a simpler way to manage blood sugar levels instead of relying on the blood-test via finger prick method, these lenses won’t be available for public use for several years.

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Gandhi, a former student of the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, founded Medella in 2013.

Medella received an investment of $100,000 from the Thiel Foundation this month, a philanthropic funding organization created by well-known venture capitalist Peter Thiel. The Thiel Foundation gives grants to fledgling entrepreneurs with the mandate of dropping out of college to pursue their ideas. Medella was part of the organization’s fellowship program this year.

More than 29 million people in the United States have diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)