4727 Development of an innovative biosensor for continuous glucose monitoring with long operational life

In the GLUCARE project we aim to develop a sensor unit, or tag, with long operational time to monitor the glucose level in the body. The tag will contain a glucose sensor and will send sensor data wirelessly to a cloud service that gives the user a clear overview of the blood sugar level. With this, the tag can be implanted under the skin and provide continuous glucose measurement. A challenge facing anything that is implanted in the body is that the immune system may recognize the implant as foreign, which will trigger an immune response. This might cause the implant to be incapsulated and decrease the sensor signal. To avoid this immune response our tag will be coated with a new type of material – GP5 – which prevents the immune system from reacting. The GLUCARE project is a collaboration between the companies Safe Implant Technology ApS in Denmark and Zimmer & Peacock AS in Norge, as well as the University of Aalborg in Denmark. The two companies are responsible for the development of the tag and the material that prevents the immune response. Aalborg University is responsible for the pre-clinical trials, where the tags are operated under the skin of pigs. During these trials, we will monitor blood sugar over several months, as well as find out how the immune system reacts to the implanted tags.

GLUCARE consortium aims at seizing a major market opportunity by developing a first-of-its-kind long-term implantable biosensor for continuous glucose monitoring (CGM), that will provide patients with real time measurements for effective diabetes disease management. In this project, we will further advance the technology development by producing and validating a functional prototype for a CGM biosensor with an innovative surface coating - GP5 - that will significantly reduce adverse reactions, inflammation and improve subcutaneous residency time. At the end of GLUCARE, we expect to deliver a fully developed prototype, tested in in animal models, and ready to progress for clinical validation. The GLUCARE project is a collaboration between ZP AS in Norway, Safe Implant Technology ApS in Denmark and Aalborg University in Denmark.