The Spanish Medicsen develops an algorithm capable of predicting glucose levels one hour in advance.This is the highest level of precision achieved to date
13.8% of Spaniards over 18 suffer from type 2 diabetes what is the same: 5.3 million citizens deal daily with the problems of this chronic disease in our country ... many of them withoutI even know that they suffer.A figure that also hides one of the highest mortality rates (even more than breast cancer or AIDS): 25,000 Spaniards die every year due to diabetes.
While part of the medical community investigates a treatment that ends up, or at least prevent, diabetes;Another large part of health scientists and entrepreneurs are focused on improving the quality of life of patients.In this last group, there is a Spanish startup that is giving a lot to talk about in recent years: Medicsen.
And, the creators of the first artificial pancreas have been stored for November 14 (World Diabetes Day) their last great advance: an algorithm that, in the form of mobile application, is able to predict glucose levels withAn hour in advance, thus avoiding diabetic crises and managing the correct doses of insulin at all times.
«We were clear that we had to measure many more variables than those obtained by the artificial pancreas, finer spin, taking into consideration phenomena such as stress, physical condition or meals.Thus, you can know not only the current glucose data, but also the tendency of its levels in the future, ”explains Eduardo W. Jørgensen, founder and CEO of Medicsen, to innovators.
To do this, this company has structured an approach at three clearly differentiated levels.The first is the measurement systems, not only through the artificial pancreas that they had already developed but also interconnecting with other devices, such as sports bracelets or smartwatches, which are capable of measuring parameters such as heart rate or body temperature.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
The second layer is the information representation system, which opens next week."We have created an algorithm in the cloud that connects with a mobile app in which glucose data is presented in a simple way, understandable for any patient without medical knowledge," adds Jørgensen.A tool that can, as we said, predict glucose levels up to one hour in advance, although these researchers want to expand this scope half an hour more as they achieve more patient data on which to establish patterns.In this way, its system presents an error rate of about 10 units of glucose, "practically negligible", compared to 30, 40 or 100 margin units presented by continuous monitors where only an upward is shown up ordown.
How do you get this level of accuracy with your predictions?Medicsen has integrated the information of all sensors with an artificial intelligence system that is capable of establishing trends based on the patient's own behavior in the past.In addition, the system also feeds its predictions with questions to users about their eating or sports habits, increasing the medical valence of their analysis.
That is the great secret of this Spanish startup against its competitors, such as Medtronic: «They are very good predicting down, possible insulin faults, but are based on population models.We opted for a personalized and individualized statistical model that is growing with the patient himself ».
Needleless insulin
And with all this we arrive at the third pillar of the Medicsen strategy: automate the administrationof insulin taking into account these predictions.At the moment, the app only recommends the correct dose but, in the near future, the algorithm will be connected to a non -invasive administration system.This technology, patented by Medicsen, consists of a patch that allows to introduce insulin into the patient without needing, by opting for a concentrated wave mechanism that presses insulin molecules against the patient's skin.It will be at the end of November when the company makes public the first design of this tool, with which the complete circle of the daily needs of the diabetics is closed.
International support
The developers of this app are currently looking for patients who want to test the system and to obtain more information to continue perfecting the accuracy of the application.Specifically, about 50 or 100 diabetes patients will be part of a real pilot in the first quarter of 2017;After about 50 patients have already tried technology in these months of previous work.
Medicsen is also part of one of the main startup accelerators in Finland, in which they have partners of the Samsung level, Telia Sonera or the Helsinki hospital, with which they negotiate possible agreements for the coming months.In our country they enjoy the impulse of the Pharmaceutical Lilly and the Scientific Park of Madrid, where their offices lie.
