January 12, 2015
By Riley McDermid, BioSpace.com Breaking News Sr. Editor
Swiss drugmaking behemoth Novartis will be teaming with Google on a possible “smart” contact lens to be available in a few years, the company said during a presentation Monday, during which is also mapped out its plans for drug trials in 2015 and touted its new emphasis on business ethics.
Novartis made the announcement at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference which begins Monday in San Francisco and the oldest and largest conference of its type. It will include 300 of the largest biotech, healthcare and biopharma companies presenting their top-line data and estimates to a sea of eager bankers, analysts, institutional investors, hedge funds and journalists.
Chief Executive Officer Joseph Jimenez said the new lens would work in tandem with a diabetic’s tear duct fluid to monitor blood glucose levels, then send that data wirelessly to a mobile device that would alert users if they were getting too close to dangerous levels.
Working with Google has been enjoyable so far, because the companies both bring unique skill sets to the table, said Jimenez. The new lens would be rolled out under Novartis‘s Alcon eye care unit as part of its collaboration with Google[x].
“We don’t know much about programming and the design, but we do know about making devices that work for consumers,” said Jimenez. “This is a real opportunity for a game-changing product.”
Novartis makes pharmaceuticals for cardiovascular, respiratory and infectious diseases, oncology, neuroscience, transplantation, dermatology, gastrointestinal and urinary conditions, arthritis, vaccines and diagnostics, vision, and animal health products.
“This really brings high-technology and combines it with biology - and that’s a very exciting combination for us,” Jimenez told Reuters after the session. “I think you’re going to see more and more areas of unmet medical need where companies like Novartis are going to take a non-traditional approach to addressing those needs.”
The the lens will also help elderly users focus on objects they may not otherwise be able to see, with their lens technology working “like the autofocus on a camera,” said Jimenez.
