FDA Clears New Blood Glucose Monitor

A new blood glucose monitoring system that gives quick results and uses a small blood sample has been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The system features a fast five-second test time, advanced electrochemical biosensor test strips that require only one microliter of blood, and the option of taking blood from a finger or arm.

The system was developed by Inverness Medical Technology Inc. (Waltham, MA, USA), which has developed other monitoring systems. The company's manufacturing facilities are in Scotland, Ireland, and Germany. The new glucose monitoring system will be marketed worldwide by LifeScan (Milpitas, CA, USA), a Johnson & Johnson company.

"Smaller blood samples, faster test times, and choice in testing sites are what people with diabetes want,” noted Ron Zwanziger, chairman and CEO of Inverness. "The new system utilizes our proprietary electrochemical biosensor technology and provides unsurpassed accuracy which is critical for people with diabetes to control their blood glucose levels.”