MOUNTAIN VIEW >> Instead of pricking a finger before each meal or injecting themselves with insulin, diabetics could one day use tiny gizmos to manage their disease — testing blood sugar levels with an Internet-connected contact lens or a coin-size skin patch that transmits glucose readings to a doctor.
That’s the vision of the co-founders of Google, who plan to tackle the global epidemic affecting hundreds of millions of people with the same technological wizardry they used to conquer the Internet.
Fighting diabetes is the first mission of the tech giant’s life sciences wing as it shifts from the Google X research lab into its own subsidiary of newly formed parent company Alphabet. A fast-growing team of about 150 scientists and engineers is wasting no time, announcing Monday a partnership with French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi and a renowned diabetes research institute in Boston.
“Google has a real desire and focus to transform health care,” John Brooks, CEO of the Harvard-affiliated Joslin Diabetes Center, said in an interview Monday. “The idea here is to really disrupt health care and disrupt diabetes. I think they want to be right in the middle of it.”
This is the kind of work that Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin had in mind in August when they made themselves CEO and president, respectively, of a new company called Alphabet. They turned Google into a subsidiary focused on its core, advertising-driven Internet business, allowing its peripheral projects — from smart thermostats to self-driving cars — to flower independently under the Alphabet umbrella.
Alphabet doesn’t have a name yet for its new life sciences company, but the team led by CEO Andy Conrad, a molecular biologist, is already well on its way toward developing medical products in partnership with drugmakers, public institutions and other big players.
They’ve picked a big and potentially lucrative fight: More than 29 million people in the United States have diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 400 million worldwide struggle with the metabolic disorder, and the International Diabetes Federation predicts that number will surge to 592 million by 2035.
Sanofi, which sells insulin injection pens, inhalers and other medications, said in a joint statement with Google on Monday that it would leverage the Mountain View tech giant’s “expertise in analytics, miniaturized electronics and low-power chip design” with its own medical treatments.
The companies declined to say how much they have invested in the deal or how long it will last. Of Sanofi’s $38 billion in sales last year, about 20 percent was diabetes-related. Brooks, whose Boston research institute will take an advisory role, said he met with Conrad in the spring and was impressed by the “very disruptive technologies” the Google team was developing.
Helping people track and manage their own blood sugar levels through diet, exercise and drugs is key to treating the chronic disease, but many fall behind.
“We have a particular expertise in really translating (treatment models) so it’s something patients want to use,” Brooks said.
Google has already publicly revealed several of its inventions and collaborations that could play a role in diabetes management.
Just weeks before the Sanofi deal, Google signed an agreement with San Diego-based diabetes management company DexCom to continuously monitor a patient’s glucose levels using new technology such as a disposable, Internet-connected device the size of a Band-Aid. DexCom is paying Google $35 million in stock up front and up to $65 million more if various milestones are met, according to an August regulatory filing.
Another emerging product that originated in the Google X lab is a contact lens embedded with a computer chip and glitter-size sensor that measures glucose in tears. It can act as an early warning system, switching on tiny LED lights when blood sugar levels cross a threshold. Google has already licensed the technology to Alcon, the eye care division of Swiss drugmaker Novartis.
Yet another a device that could be useful for diabetics is a wristband that works as a cardiac and activity monitor, measuring pulse, skin temperature, activity levels and other variables.
Diabetes experts welcomed the news that the Alphabet subsidiary was investing Google’s cash and innovative approach to the epidemic.
“We’re thrilled they are entering this space,” said Jane Chiang, a physician and senior vice president of medical affairs at the American Diabetes Association. “My dream is we would be able to eradicate this disease. If Google could help in any way with that, that would be phenomenal.”
