The most popular search engine in the world, Google, is extending its services to the health sector. The tech giant recently announced that it will be focusing on the fight against diabetes, NPR reported.
Google Life Sciences, a research group under Google X, made the announcement that the company's first disease target would be diabetes.
Life Sciences, headed by molecular biologist Andrew Conrad, has already partnered up with different big names in the pharmaceutical industry including Sanofi and Novartis AG, thanks to Conrad's connections.
In 2014, it was announced that Google had collaborated with Novartis AG, to develop contact lenses that are able to measure the wearer's blood glucose levels.
The device measures blood glucose from tears from the eyeball's surface. The data will then be sent over to the patient's mobile phone.
This method is considered much more convenient and less invasive than the conventional thumb pricking for glucose testing.
According to Techspot, the lenses are embedded with tiny sensors and wireless chips, which will take charge of analyzing the glucose levels. Furthermore, it was reported that Google has planned to incorporate LED lights into the prototype, which will signal if blood glucose is critically high or low.
Inquistr reported that human clinical trials for the contact lens will start in 2016.
The partnership with Novartis isn't the only huge step taken by the tech giant. Google Life Sciences announced its partnership last week with Sanofi.
Joslin Diabetes Center was also part of the collaboration and center CEO John L. Brooks III expressed his excitement over the upcoming project.
"We are experiencing a worldwide pandemic of diabetes, and it's very encouraging to see healthcare and technology innovators step up to the challenge of providing cutting edge tools and care advancing technologies to help people with diabetes manage their disease, 24/7," he said, according to Sanofi news release.
Apart from Sanofi and Novartis, Google has collaborated with Johnson & Johnson on a surgical robots project and Biogen for multiple sclerosis project, although diabetes management is the tech giant's main focus.
