In a 2014 National Diabetes Statistics Report, there are 29.1 million people or 9.3% of the American population have diabetes based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
To combat this health issue, the life and sciences division of Google has made its first 'giant leap' in the medical field, i.e., to develop new ways to medicate and manage diabetes according to a report on Wired.com. This endeavor serves as a beacon of Google's sincerity in making real progress in the field of medicine. To this effect, the company has worked closely with Sanofi, a French pharmaceutical company, considered as one of the world's giant pharmaceutical companies.
Prior to the statements of Google co-founder Sergey Brin who claimed that 'its life sciences operation would be spun out as an independent company under Google's reorganization into Alphabet', the company has already hired prominent scientists, which include neurologist, immunologists and even nanoparticle engineers in order to feed its life sciences aspirations as reported in Wired.com. This clearly signals Google's ambition to do even more.
Based on the same article featured on Wired.com, a very logical starting point for the company is 'diabetes'. Just recently signed a deal with medical equipment company Dexcom, the company's life sciences division has already developed contact lenses which can measure blood glucose levels.
This focus on 'diabetes' marks the beginning of Google in moving away from a "tech centric" approach to a "disease centric" approach according to a report on Wired.com. However, one should keep in mind that Google's life sciences unit is still firmly a technology company. Google emphasizes that sudden fluctuations in blood sugar can lead to the worst outcomes for diabetic patients, such as nerve damage, heart disease and strokes. Nevertheless, it is one of the hopes of Google, through its data-centric work with Sinofi, to provide medical professionals as well as patients the needed information that could definitely help in the prevention of such fluctuations.
"New technologies could make it simple for a physician to understand when a patient's blood sugar is tracking high for days in a row or could offer new ways for a patient to get real-time information and specific guidance about diet or insulin dosage," Brin said as quoted on Wired.com.
