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This coin-sized smart insulin patch could monitor glucose for diabetes management

Researchers were able to preload enough insulin into the coin-sized adhesive microneedle patches to enable clinical use. [Image courtesy of UCLA]

A team of researchers and bioengineers from UCLA, the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced in February that they had developed a smart insulin-delivery patch with the potential to also monitor and manage glucose levels in people with diabetes.

The adhesive patch monitors blood sugar and has doses of insulin pre-loaded in tiny microneedles on the patch to deliver medicine quickly when glucose levels reach a certain level. The insulin delivery slows down once it detects glucose levels are back in a normal range. It is the size of a quarter and can be easily manufactured for once-a-day use.

You can read more about it here.