Printing Low-Cost Glucose Test Strips on Paper
Imagine just being able to fire up an inkjet printer and print out perfectly usable glucose test strips. Ah, the money that could be saved, among other things! It may seem off-the-wall strange, but a startup company that began almost three years ago as a Clemson University student research project in South Carolina, Accessible Diagnostics , is developing what it calls GlucoSense, a new type of test strip made out of commonly-available materials that costs just pennies to make in comparison to what’s out there now. We also happened to hear of a Bangalore company developing silk-weaved strips featured in a recent NPR story , with hopes of rolling out their offering by year’s end. These efforts come at a time when both health care costs and the rates of diabetes are skyrocketing in the U.S. and around the world — meaning more people than ever need glucose strips, while fewer have affordable access these essential diabetes supplies. Since GlucoSense is led by in large...