Congratulations again to the innovative little Salem, NH-based company doing some killer work in glucose monitoring. Not only did AgaMatrix score the job when Sanofi-Aventis decided to go into glucose meter business recently, but now they’ve accomplished a breakthrough close to my own heart:
The WaveSense Jazz meter will be the first medical device ever to connect directly with the Apple
iOS platform. A new download cable, which AgaMatrix was demonstrating at the ADA Conference expo, will plug their Jazz meter directly into the iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad, so that users will soon be able to automatically download their glucose data into the company’s popular iPhone logging app. The download cable is pending FDA 510K review.
The WaveSense Diabetes Manager is one of the most popular iPhone diabetes apps in existence, the company tells me, with a current user base of about 50,000. Visually and in terms of functionality, it beats the competition hands down, if you ask me.
Its big, clear interface has been upgraded with this launch as well, to provide even more functionality: super-easy tabs for tagging your readings and making notes on them, graphical views in which important results are brightly highlighted, and the ability to tap any data point on a graph to immediately see details, notes and tags on that individual result. You can also easily email charts of your results to your doctor or family members in basic CSV file format. BG results are color-coded so that the highs and lows pop right out at you, so to speak.
My one big gripe to date (and WaveSense customers’ especially) was the need for manual data entry. Now at least those who use the WaveSense Jazz meter can plug right into the iPhone, so no more need to type every BG reading into the phone with weary D-fingers. The cable is slated to be available for sale from AgaMatrix’s website following FDA approval at “Apple standard pricing” of about $25 to $30, according to Joe Flaherty, Strategic Marketing Manager at AgaMatrix, Inc.
“We’ve been working with Apple for the last two years to make this happen. We’re very excited,” Flaherty says.
Yeah, me too. Even though I’m not a Jazz user myself. Because with this and Debiotech’s new design for controlling their insulin patch pump from the Android interface, it looks like my dreams of consumer-medical device integration are beginning to really come true!
NOTE: AgaMatrix is developing other new features as well and would love community feedback at www.wavesense.info/iphone.
This is truly exciting! I’m a big fan of the WaveSense app as well but haven’t kept up with the manual input. I’m very much looking forward to getting my hands on one of those cables!
Thanks for keeping us updated Amy!
O. M. G.
Awesome news!!!!! I too long for the day when I can read my CGM info, upload my meter data, and program and deliver bolus info – all right from my iPhone. This is exciting because it does feel like we are coming one step closer to that day!
I’d say they kind of missed the boat in not making this device wireless.
Glucose Buddy ( free iPhone app ) with free web page/portal for data aggregation and management is wireless.
As well, the Telcare meter coming out in the fall will sync wirelessly to web. As they work with Glucose Buddy, ( iPhone app ) I would bet the two will then work together.
I’m not affiliated with Glucose Buddy or Telcare. Though I am a huge fan of the Glucose Buddy iPhone app.
http://www.telcare.com/telcare_solution.php
http://www.glucosebuddy.com/
@Josh @Karen
Spot on. Offering a fully wireless option that automatically uploaded to the phone that uploads to a web-based analysis software could have made these guys a real competitor. Unfortunately, we might see them in the deadpool soon if they can’t leapfrog their competition.
I know the WaveSense folks are working on a Jazz meter with Bluetooth, it’s not clear to me why they’ve not got it on the market yet.
I’m constantly impressed by both the quality and the design of the WaveSense meters, and have happily used them for several years now.
@Josh
Glucose buddy is a great app but it’s not really “wireless” – you still have to manually enter your readings. I guess it’s wireless in the sense that it pushes your data up to the website from the phone, which is a great feature, but you still have to carry a meter and the phone and manually type readings from one into the other.
Although the cable that WaveSense introducing is a step in the right direction, it’s pretty pointless. Now I’m going to carry a meter (plus test strips & lancet), an iPhone AND a cable? It doesn’t appear that the Wavesense iphone app even has the same ability as glucose buddy to upload to a website. I guess that’s what Josh is talking about.
A bluetooth meter from WaveSense is a little bit better, but here’s an idea that’s been kicking around for over a year (because it won last year’s DiabetesMine Design competition): Why not make a in iPhone case that IS a glocuse meter! And then the app seemlessly uploads to the website like Glucose Buddy! Whoa, that would be useful! This cable thing is a joke.
@Todd
Yes, your point about having to enter data into Glucose Buddy is correct, my apologies if I was not clear.
My point was only that the Telcare meter is wireless, and that the WaveSense meter missed this boat with it’s cable etc. as you point out above. The Telcare meter, though not available yet, will wirelessly upload data to a centralized server or “cloud” host.
I know Glucose Buddy and Telcare work together in a strategic partnership of some sort. I anticipate the Telcare meter wirelessly talking to Glucose Buddy is my second point, though I cannot confirm this. Or, the Telcare meter will upload to a portal much like Glucose Buddy as mentioned above. Either case would be of far more value to me and would be the solution you speak about as regards mention of the case/meter, which sounds great too.
[...] AgaMatrix WaveSense Direct Connect iPhone Cable ] VIA [ DiabetesMine [...]
I love wavesense meters. I wish my insurance covered the strips.
[...] pending review and approval from the FDA, but when available it will sell for around $25-30.[diabetesmine] Posted: Sunday, July 11, 2010 Author: chetan. Category: Gadgets, iphone There are 0 [...]
[...] » WaveSense Jazz Meter to Connect with the iPhone – DiabetesMine: the all things diabetes blo… (tags: glucose diabetes meter blood testing monitoring iphone mobile) [...]
[...] AgaMatrix WaveSense Direct Connect iPhone Cable ] VIA [ DiabetesMine [...]
Agamatrix did *not* miss the boat on making it wireless… They are/were having FDA issues… Hence why they bridged it with a cable… They already have/had plans for a Bluetooth meter… All kidding aside id blame the FDA….Its a very old problem…Its also the reason why the iBGStar is not as integrated as everyone hoped and is mostly self contained except for data export (to the ipod connected). The cable/direct connection is a workaround to the FDA having to certify iOS and the version of the glucose software running on the ipod.. The FDA really needs to get out of the stone age and make it easier for people to use their own apps without making them propriatary.. some API standards would make this a safer proposition. I dont mind D apps being caveat emptor…
That’s very nice, but they could have also tried to connect wirelessly via Bluetooth. Some companies are planning on doing that, such as Pancreum (www.pancreum.com) and I hope their products will be available soon.
Looks interesting, although I think they need to do better in getting their strips on more insurance company formularies because so few major U.S. carriers cover their strips on any tier. I am also interested in the Wavesense Jazz Wireless which the company notes “requires 510(K) FDA review and is presently not for sale” — I haven’t looked into whether they’ve even filed an application for approval with the FDA yet, although it would not surprise me if the company hadn’t since applying with the FDA is the LAST regulator any private company wants to deal with (I wrote about that, see http://goo.gl/YwEZN for details).