Gentag, Mayo Clinic, NovioSense and Fraunhofer Join Forces to Lower the Cost of Diabetes Care Globally

WASHINGTON, ROCHESTER, Minn., NIJMEGEN, Netherlands and DUISBURG, Germany, July 14, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

• Exciting, new, patented technology platform poised to disrupt diabetes care delivery globally
• Extremely low-cost, pain-free system could be a game changer
• No more lancets, glucometers
• Real-time cloud-based readings deliverable to caregivers and providers anywhere instantly via NFC cell phones
• Opportunity to improve diabetes outcomes worldwide

Building on the long-standing collaboration between Gentag and Mayo Clinic, and the long-standing collaboration between NovioSense and Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems (IMS), Gentag and NovioSense today announced that they have formed a joint venture to combat the epidemic of type 2 diabetes that is overwhelming people and health care systems worldwide.  

Using their patented combined assets that include advanced chemistry knowledge, proprietary sensor designs, and software and chip (ASIC) design capabilities, the four parties will combine forces to develop a mobile-phone based platform to bring very low-cost, on-demand pain free diabetes monitoring to people worldwide.  The technology will use consumers' Near Field Communication (NFC)-enabled smartphones as readers, replacing traditional glucometers. 

The joint venture is covered by 75 issued patents worldwide and is significantly lower cost than current type 2 diabetes solutions.  Development will be carried out simultaneously on both sides of the Atlantic by NovioSense BV and Gentag, Inc., together with the diabetes teams from Mayo Clinic and the sensor and NFC teams of Fraunhofer IMS.

The collaboration is a huge step forward in the commercialization of affordable, disposable diagnostic sensor systems powered by mobile phones.  Gentag and NovioSense bring in unique technology platforms for low cost disposable diabetes sensors powered by any NFC enabled mobile phone or device.  Mayo Clinic brings its medical expertise in diabetes and a global medical reach; it will write customized apps for diabetes monitoring applications.  Fraunhofer brings its advanced sensor and chip design capabilities.

"Many countries will need to deliver type 2 diabetes solutions to a third of their populations.  The status quo has to change and these technologies are a critical step in the right direction," stated James Levine, MD, Ph.D., of the Mayo Clinic.

"By pooling our resources together, we are in a position now to dramatically advance diabetes monitoring.  Our patented technology allows us to make wireless sensors that are battery-less, disposable, painless and use cell phones or other NFC devices as glucometers.  Furthermore we can use the cell phones as controllers for insulin delivery, including disposable NFC insulin delivery systems, under our issued worldwide patents," said Dr. John Peeters, CEO of Gentag.

"We want to make pain free glucose monitoring available to everyone independent of their socioeconomic status. It is only by increasing awareness and by making monitoring simple and affordable that we can hope to push back the tidal wave," said NovioSense CEO Dr. Christopher Wilson.  "By creating a device powered only by the NFC antennas found in most modern smart phones, and combining this with a pain free sensor platform, we can cut the cost and burden of glucose monitoring dramatically."

"This cooperation, especially with NovioSense BV, enables the Fraunhofer IMS once again to contribute with its competencies in the fields of microelectronic circuits, electronic systems and sensors, and bring those successfully to the market," stated Professor Anton Grabmaier, Director of the Fraunhofer IMS.

The combined technology can be implemented for any diabetes application, including long-term implantable sensors, diabetes skin patches or eye (tear drop) sensors, or wireless insulin delivery systems controlled by mobile devices.

The group of Gentag, NovioSense, Mayo and Fraunhofer IMS technology and patents will be licensed, sold or co-developed with a large global partner interested in leading the next generation of diabetes monitoring.  The deal will be negotiated by Dennis Kozlowski, former CEO of Tyco International, who has been working with Gentag and Mayo Clinic Ventures team on this project since inception and will negotiate terms along with Bruce Kline, of Mayo Clinic Ventures.

About Gentag, Inc.

Gentag, Inc. is pioneering the use of disposable, ultrathin, wearable and immunoassay biosensors that can be read with NFC-enabled devices, which will make healthcare and consumer diagnostics more affordable and accessible to all worldwide. These products and services will revolutionize not only medical applications, but also location-based services and the detection of environmental threats in homes and workplaces. Gentag's first wireless sensor network patent was filed in 1997. The NFC diabetes and NFC sensor network patents contributed by Gentag are held by Altivera, LLC, a Maryland company operated by Gentag and owned by its shareholders. For more information, visit www.gentag.com and follow Gentag on Twitter (@gentagInc).

About Mayo Clinic

Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to medical research and education, and providing expert, whole-person care to everyone who needs healing. For more information, visit http://mayocl.in/1ohJTMS, or http://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/.

About NovioSense BV

NovioSense BV has developed and patented a unique passive (battery-less) NFC sensor and proprietary coating chemistries for long-term diabetes sensors.   The diabetes sensor and NovioSense chemistries are a perfect match to the Gentag (Altivera) issued NFC sensor patents.  The joint technology can be adapted to any diabetes monitoring application.  For further information on NovioSense BV, please visit www.noviosense.com. For media and images, please visit http://noviosense.com/diabetes-care/press/

About Fraunhofer

The Fraunhofer IMS is, through continued growth and innovative research and development, one of the leading institutes in Germany for applied research and development in microelectronics and CMOS technology for the past 30 years. The institute is a world-wide recognized partner to the industry, due to its broad know-how, its access to technologies and valuable development services. The Fraunhofer IMS offers a wide range of service of silicon based devices and systems as well as smart sensors, integrated circuits and discrete electronic systems.  It also offers the pilot fabrication of devices on a professionally managed CMOS and post-processing line in small and medium quantities. Products and services of the Fraunhofer IMS are deployed in a broad variety of application fields, always characterized by being efficient and close to the market.  For further information please visit the homepage of the institute: http://www.ims.fraunhofer.de/en/homepage.html

For licensing rights please contact:

Bruce R. Kline
Mayo Clinic Ventures
200 First Street SW
Rochester, MN 55905
Phone: 507-266-4586
E-mail: [email protected]

Dennis Kozlowski
Phone: 202-494-3950
E-mail: [email protected]

Press Contacts

Marc Onigman
Phone: 617-413-2830
E-mail:  [email protected]

Christopher Wilson
Phone: +31 6 83 84 34 76
E-mail: [email protected]

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SOURCE Gentag

Related Links

http://www.gentag.com