Sustainable Innovations for a Better Tomorrow.
Around seven million people in Saudi Arabia are diabetic and three million have pre-diabetes. We are constantly fighting against this growing epidemic with health programs, educational campaigns supported by the Saudi Ministry of Health, local health organizations, hospitals, and educational institutions trying to control the effects of diabetes and provide community support to improve the quality of life of those suffering from it.
It wasn’t too long before Abdulelah Saleh, co-founder of Saudi startup GlucoJet, and his team developed a pain-free paper sensor that monitors blood sugar levels in saliva. As one of the world’s revolutionary inventions of needle-free diabetic care in 2019, GlucoJet was rewarded SR375,000 through TAQADAM’s accelerator program, which provides opportunities in the areas of science and technology and for aspiring entrepreneurs to bring their ideas to market through the means of training and mentorship. The program was developed in partnership with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and Saudi British Bank.
So, how does GlucoJet work? The paper sensor gets a saliva sample and plugs it into the GlucoJet reader to get an immediate reading. Biomedical engineer Abdulelah and his teammates Prof Sahika Inal, Scientific Bioengineering Advisor, and Dr Eloise Bihar, CTO of Printing Technology, will be expanding their team in order to bring the product faster to the Saudi market. This non-invasive and pain-free innovation of disposable sensors will soon be ready for manufacturing and distribution through pharmacies and online by 2022.
To finalize the product for the market, GlucoJet will be going through FDA approvals and clinical trials in September of 2021. The product’s proprietary technology allows the team to produce their devices at a much lower cost due to its metal-free component and by scaling up to production with the latest printing technology.
Are you an innovator? Apply for TAQADAM’s next round of startup accelerator program at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Innovation and Economic Development.
