Painless continuous blood sugar monitoring on the horizon for US$199 thanks to the K'Watch Glucose from PKVitality

[Redaktion]

The K'Watch Glucose smartwatch from PKVitality is currently undergoing clinical trials in the US. The device promises painless continuous glucose monitoring for diabetics and utilizes a replaceable K'apsul with SkinTaste technology to take blood sugar readings. The K'Watch Glucose should be priced at US$199/€199 upon release.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Painless-continuous-blood-sugar-monitoring-on-the-horizon-for-US-199-thanks-to-the-K-Watch-Glucose-from-PKVitality.582622.0.html

[Mark Dawson]

How much are the patches? That's the key question!

[Desiree Earle]

I also would like to know how much the patches will be and will this be something that insurance companies will cover at some point if its approved by the FDA as a CGM? Sound like an awesome concept I hope they can make it reliable and accessible to those with diabetes.

[Betty Castillo]

From their FAQ page: " The K'Watch should be priced at 199 $/€.

The K'apsul Glucose sensors should be priced at around 99.90 $/€ per month.

Price may change by launch time and according to regions and local duties and taxes."

[willie gluck]

Headline is misleading. "Painless continuous blood sugar monitoring.." already exists with two marketed FDA-approved products.

[dlang]

What matters isn't the purchase price of the watch, but the monthly price of using it.

$400/month is on the high side.

Abbott is $160/month
Dexcom os $400/month (prorating the transmitter) for the G6 and is supossed to be ~$200/month for the G7

(Street prices without insurance)

[Melissa]

Well the cost of the patches would make it prohibitive for so many people, even if it becomes covered by insurance I'm sure it will be like other cgm and only covered for people on insulin. The only benefit is that it's more discreet than the other two cgms on the market now. Probably a hard pass for many people, what a shame

[Nathan A Davis]

This is just more corporate goons vulturing over people with a serious illness. $400 a month to use their $200 smart watch?! How tf is this news? Oh that's right this isn't a news feed it's an advertisement feed to help me pass the time and spend my money on Google stuff. I'm a T1 Diabetic. 30 years and I'm sick of being preyed upon by goons who just don't have all the money so they make products not to cure but to manage so they can collect our money until the disease of course kills us. Sick way to do business sick way to treat people. Kwatch and Kapsule can eat their own sh!+.

[Tom C]

Please read carefully.
It's 99.90 for a months supply of patches and 199.00 for the watch.

But ultimately they should be developing ways to cure diabetes since so many people in this world have it.

[Jemi]

 Instead of spending time to come up with new tools to make the suffering a little bit easier. Have a heart and find a cure.This is a terrible disease that people especially children are suffering from it in silent 24/7 without a break. I wouldn't wish this disease on my worse enemy but I wish it on people and their families that  have a power to get this monster off people's back but they are not doing it! Stop coming up with ideas to make more profit come up with a Cure!!!

[Dr. jim Linn MD]

The monitor watch should be $139.00   and monthly patches
$49.99      or it will not be sustainable. 310-435-6368
813-785-7800

[David Lang]

$99/month would be a good price for a CGM if it's that and not $99/patch

Unfortunately 'finding a cure' is not something you can command. That said, there is work being done that is promising.

For Type 1 I've seen stories about gene therapy that can get the pancreas
producing insulin again, but other than that, a closed loop insulin pump/cgm combo is the technical answer (including opensource solutions like the nightscout dot info project)

For Type 2, it seems that it is able to be solved, but the solution is not necessarily easy for everyone. In my case a CGM for monitoring, combined with a CGLT2 inhibitor (to help flush sugar from the body) combined with aggressive fasting and a very low-carb diet seems to have done the job (and helped me drop from 310 to 230 pounds in less than a year, A1C from 10 to 5.3 while taking no meds for a month). Even a full Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings (including pies for desert) didn't drive my blood glucose over 140. Many people have reported solving their problems and getting off their meds with intermittent fasting and keto (or similar low carb) diet.

I am not saying that everyone can do this, but a strong "seems to have worked for me" adding a data point that this can be solved. For me the info from the CGM was the key factor, with the CGLT2 inhibitor accelerating the process

But if you are going to try to deal with type 2, a CGM is a fantastic tools as different people react to the same food in different ways, so being able to see how a particular food affects your blood glucose is a huge help.  In my case, some 'high glycemic index' foods trigger a short jump in blood glucose that is over in an hour or two (potatoes, chocolate bars), while others result in a larger jump that lasts 6-8 hours (rice)

And if you are going to take diabetes medications and lose weight at the same time, having a CGM to make sure you don't drive your blood glucose too low is a good idea and it lets you use the more aggressive medications safely.

In my case, this hit as I was between jobs (no insurance), so I went in to my new Doctor with the attitude "I'd like to try this, since I don't have insurance and will be paying out of pocket we don't need any approvals from anyone else, as long as this seems like a sane approach to try for you" and she was willing to let me give it a try, and the results were good enough that when I did get insurance, they were willing to pick up part of the tab (changing me to a different CGM and SGLT2 inhibitor)

[James Dogani]

Thanks for sharing- this will put the diabetes society to the next level

[A]

I have severe hypoglycemic episodes at night that regularly bring the paramedics to my house to revive me. Those guys know me by name at this point. See, I just don't wake up when I'm in the early stages of hypoglycemia, and so the problem continues until I CAN'T wake up. Even if I do happen to wake, I'm usually already too paralyzed and disoriented to get up, test my bloodsugar, find food, press a medical alert button, or even call out for help. I'm too busy going between severe seizures and passing out to even crawl out of bed.

It is a terrifying experience for those who live with me, too, especially since they usually don't realize there's anything wrong until I don't get up the following morning. I literally died from this once when I was a teenager, and the paramedics were barely able to bring me back that time. I live in fear of the day they will come too late to revive me, and/or my housemates may forget just once to check to see if I'm okay.

As a result, I cannot live alone or more than a few minutes away from a hospital. I am a burden on the people who live with me. I cannot allow myself to sleep more than 4 hours in a row. I often sleep on the floor so if I have to get up with hypoglycemia I don't fall and hurt myself. And, every night when I lay down I am forced to fear that this night will be my last. I can't tell you how many nights I've had to just completely forgo sleep because I can feel one of these episodes coming.

I. WANT. ONE.

Even if I still couldn't live alone, I might be able to sleep for more than 4 hours before I have to get up to test my bloodsugar. My poor housemates won't be forced to live in terror they'll find me dead or nearly dead in my bed. My family wouldn't torture themselves with worry. My doctor would do the happy dance when I showed him all the data I collected for him, too.

Heck, if this is a real thing, even if it only works accurately 50% of the time, and for some dumb reason they don't approve this for sale in the US, or my insurance company refuses to cover it, I'd be willing to buy one out-of-pocket from somewhere overseas that does allow them.

Test strips cost me $50 a month. The sensor for this is supposedly going to be around $100 per month? Yes. Even if it's not as accurate as whole blood testing and I still have to buy the regular test strips for daytime use on top of the monthly sensors for night, even if I have to get a part time second job to afford the test strips plus the sensor replacements, I want a PKVitality watch yesterday.

There is literally NO solution for someone like me currently on the market. (The closest thing to this on the market at present, you still have to be awake and able enough to hold a cell phone up to the sensor to see a reading. That thing is as useless as a traditional bloodtester to me if I'm asleep or already having a hypoglycemic seizure.)

A device like this PKVitality watch would change my whole life for the better.

[Marc]

How much are the patches? That's the key question!

Headline is misleading. "Painless continuous blood sugar monitoring.." already exists with two marketed FDA-approved products.