As my vacation winds down, I’m trying to spend just a little time catching up on the hottest links, etc. What caught my eye first was a blurb over at Medgadget, introducing the dubious GlucoPhone — an utterly amazing all-in-one cell phone and glucometer gadget that (quote) helps “provide 24/7 support and emergency intervention to Diabetes Phone subscribers — anytime, anywhere. It’s a full disease management system.”

As the watchdog editors over at Medgadget point out, however: “For now, it seems, the system as well as the website are being built: details are scant and internet pages are under construction. Plus there is no evidence that the device has been approved by the FDA.”

Man, stop raising our hopes with all these science fiction product announcements, will ya?!

On that note, it’s nice to know there’s a place to learn the truth about all these deceptively breathtaking products — a site called DeviceWatch.org, a new sister site to QuackWatch.org, where you can research bogus medical claims and also report potential frauds. (Be sure to cc me if you’re making a submission

Speaking of too-good-to-be true devices, the exciting non-invasive Glucoband meter seems to have evoporated into thin air. Nobody seems to have heard Word One from this company after it turned up a no-show at the ADA Conference in June — despite all the flashy announcements that they would debut a new prototype there. Goodness, how we all yearn for an armband glucose meter that actually works! Is the Glucoband just more overhyped vaporware? Let’s hope not.

Monday, August 28th, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (1)