Glucoband
- Thread starter Siobhan
- Start Date
Yes good question
I have been looking at Calistro's website for some time hoping to see the launch of the Glucoband but as yet - nothing
Not sure,but I read on another forum that Liberty pharmacy are going to be involved in the launch????
I have no idea why it is taking so long for companies to come up with a simple watch like device that will detect hypos. The Glucowatch unfortunately was not very successful but as a dsn told me in 2001 'its a step in the right direction, but not there just yet'. It is now 2008 and still nothing to compare.
I have been looking at Calistro's website for some time hoping to see the launch of the Glucoband but as yet - nothing
Not sure,but I read on another forum that Liberty pharmacy are going to be involved in the launch????
I have no idea why it is taking so long for companies to come up with a simple watch like device that will detect hypos. The Glucowatch unfortunately was not very successful but as a dsn told me in 2001 'its a step in the right direction, but not there just yet'. It is now 2008 and still nothing to compare.
I am fairly sure that this will be never. The Glucowatch had all sorts of problems - both technical and commercial. If the "Glucoband" ever got as far as being a real device, then it no doubt ran into the same problems. However, I rather think it never got that far.
A bit of googling about the company (Calisto Medical) is very revealing. This was a very small Polish company (I have seen a description of it being a husband and wife team). They made big promises in 2004, and said that it would be launched "within the next few months" for the following couple of years. They took out a stand at a major diabetes conference in 2006, but never turned up. As far as I can see, no one has heard anything of them since. The Glucoband web site is permanently "under construction", and the company web site is full of broken links and looks unmaintained. Draw your own conclusions.
A bit of googling about the company (Calisto Medical) is very revealing. This was a very small Polish company (I have seen a description of it being a husband and wife team). They made big promises in 2004, and said that it would be launched "within the next few months" for the following couple of years. They took out a stand at a major diabetes conference in 2006, but never turned up. As far as I can see, no one has heard anything of them since. The Glucoband web site is permanently "under construction", and the company web site is full of broken links and looks unmaintained. Draw your own conclusions.
Hello Siobhan,
I'm afraid DiabeticGeek's suspicions may be well founded.
This appears to be an imaginary product, dreamt up to raise investment and/or company
share price. It's not a particularly original scam, but it is one that usually works every time
(The investment returns on a successful invention of this kind are too big to ignore).
As it stands, the venture capitalists have lost any money which they invested and, more importantly, the hopes of millions of diabetics have been raised and dashed (Again).
I hope I'm wrong and that the Glucoband is available soon (and it actually works properly).
Regards,
timo.
I'm afraid DiabeticGeek's suspicions may be well founded.
This appears to be an imaginary product, dreamt up to raise investment and/or company
share price. It's not a particularly original scam, but it is one that usually works every time
(The investment returns on a successful invention of this kind are too big to ignore).
As it stands, the venture capitalists have lost any money which they invested and, more importantly, the hopes of millions of diabetics have been raised and dashed (Again).
I hope I'm wrong and that the Glucoband is available soon (and it actually works properly).
Regards,
timo.
An alternative to the scam theory is the conspiracy theory! Maybe no one have heard of these guys recently because they have retired to a beach in Fiji, having been bought out by a consortium of strip manufacturers! :wink: :roll:
Seriously, though, I dare-say that this sort of thing will come eventually - but don't hold your breath, there are a lot of problems to overcome. The Glucowatch tended to be unreliable (moving could cause it to cut out), half of the people who used it developed skin problems and it was supposedly a real pain to callibrate (this needed lots of conventional fingerprick tests). Add to this the fact that the gadget itself cost $700 and the consumables cost $5,000 per year and you can see why not many people ever used them and the company that made them went bust! Unless someone comes up with some very clever engineering, this sort of gadget is going to have to wait for a whole new generation of technology - and that isn't going to happen any time soon.
Seriously, though, I dare-say that this sort of thing will come eventually - but don't hold your breath, there are a lot of problems to overcome. The Glucowatch tended to be unreliable (moving could cause it to cut out), half of the people who used it developed skin problems and it was supposedly a real pain to callibrate (this needed lots of conventional fingerprick tests). Add to this the fact that the gadget itself cost $700 and the consumables cost $5,000 per year and you can see why not many people ever used them and the company that made them went bust! Unless someone comes up with some very clever engineering, this sort of gadget is going to have to wait for a whole new generation of technology - and that isn't going to happen any time soon.
