Welsh firm at cutting edge of diabetes technology celebrated by business leader

A tech company developing the world’s first non-invasive wearable blood glucose sensor has been hailed as an “innovation success story” by the Wales Director of the CBI.

Ian Price said Afon Technology, based in Caldicot, was boosting economic growth in the country by creating high-skilled jobs with its pursuit of creating the holy grail of diabetes monitoring.

Scientists at Afon have been creating a real-time and continuous glucose sensor, tipped to completely transform the lives of those by completely removing needles from the process of monitoring blood sugar levels.

The sensor sits on the inside of your wrist and uses Bluetooth technology to send real-time information to a companion app which will display your blood glucose trends and alert you to high/low glucose levels as well as personal health trends.

After hearing about the company, Mr Price paid a visit to find out more and was given a guided tour of its laboratory.

He said: “I’m delighted Afon Technology chose south Wales to make a product that will improve the lives of people with diabetes.

“I was impressed by the facilities during my visit. Afon Technology are an innovation success story, creating skilled jobs, manufacturing, and boosting economic growth in Wales.”

Afon has been given membership to the CBI in Wales by Mr Price to help the company integrate with the Welsh business community.

Afon Technology’s CEO Sabih Chaudhry said: “It was an honour to welcome Ian to our office and tell him more about Afon, what we have been working on and how much this device will change the lives of people living with diabetes.

He added: “Without using needles the pain-free Afon device will simply sit on the underside of your wrist and communicate vital information via Bluetooth to your chosen smart device.

“Diabetes can be incredibly limiting to someone’s life, but we believe we’ve created a device which will provide the wonderful feeling of freedom all wrapped up in a watch on the wrist.” 

Tipped to completely radicalise the lives of those who have diabetes, the Afon device will go one step further than the revolutionary FreeStyle Libre. Unlike the Libre, it will measure blood glucose levels without the need to penetrate the skin at all, making it easier to manage the condition and therefore reducing the risk of diabetes-related complications such as heart attack, stroke, blindness, kidney failure and limb amputations.

Preliminary clinical research gives developers hope that such a device could become a reality in the near future. 

Companies such as Apple, Samsung and Google are rumoured to have been trying to develop non-invasive blood glucose monitoring, but so far none have been successful. Afon Technology hopes to win the race to this important milestone. 

It is hoped the device, which is set to undergo another round of clinical trials, will be available to purchase from the end of next year.

According to research £5.5bn of NHS hospitals’ budget is spent on diabetes, and poor diabetes control was responsible for £3bn in potentially avoidable hospital treatment in England in the year 2017-2018.

The company, founded in 2015 and based in Wales, has already picked up a Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Award.