Apple Has Made 'Major Progress' on Noninvasive and Continuous Blood Glucose Monitoring [Report]

Apple has made 'major progress' on its secret project to develop noninvasive and continuous blood glucose monitoring, according to a new report from Bloomberg.

The goal of this secret endeavor — dubbed E5 — is to measure how much glucose is in someone's body without needing to prick the skin for blood. After hitting major milestones recently, the company now believes it could eventually bring glucose monitoring to market, according to people familiar with the effort.

Apple has been working on the system for over twelve years. Although it's still at the proof of concept stage, the company believes the technology is viable. It will need to shrink it down, likely for inclusion in a future Apple Watch model.


There are hundreds of engineers allegedly working on the project as part of Apple's Exploratory Design Group, or XDG. The covert initiative is said to have fewer people involved than the company's self driving car project or the mixed-reality headset.

To alleviate the need for a skin prick, Apple's system uses silicon photonics chip technology and optical absorption spectroscopy.

The system uses lasers to emit specific wavelengths of light into an area below the skin where there is interstitial fluid — substances that leak out of capillaries — that can be absorbed by glucose. The light is then reflected back to the sensor in a way that indicates the concentration of glucose. An algorithm then determines a person's blood glucose level.

The technology has been tested on hundreds of people over the past decade. Now engineers are working to develop a prototype that would be about the size of an iPhone and could be strapped to a person's bicep. Earlier versions of the system sat on a table.


Hundreds of millions of dollars have allegedly been spent on this project as it has the potential to turn Apple into a major player in the health market. Despite the progress, Apple recently suffered a setback when project leader, Bill Athas unexpectedly passed away last year. Work is now being led by several top deputies including Dave Simon and Jeff Koller.

Notably, at its initial stages, Apple ran the project as a startup called Avolonte Health LLC. This kept Apple's work hidden as it performed human trials. Avolonte followed the acquisition of RareLight back in 2010. Under the direction of Steve Jobs, Apple acquired the RareLighgt to get access to its research in noninvasive blood glucose monitoring.

While it will likely be years before we see noninvasive and continuous blood glucose monitoring on Apple Watch, the company's progress makes us hopeful it will materialize. Please download the iClarified app or follow iClarified on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and RSS for further updates.

More details in the full report linked below...

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