Arkray Piramal, the joint venture company of Arkray Inc. and Piramal Healthcare has introduced an advanced glucose self-monitoring device Glucocard 01.

Glucocard 01 offers a high level of accuracy and precision in the self-monitoring of blood glucose due to the use of sophisticated and unique biosensor technology. In addition, the product ensures pain-free testing experience for the diabetic patient. Biosensor technology is accepted as being superior, since its accuracy and precision are far greater than obtained with photometer technology, which is commonly used in other glucometers.

"Our commitment towards diabetes care goes back to 1970, when we developed the world's first self-monitoring blood glucose meter (Eyetone). Since then, self-management of blood glucose has come a long way. One of the key barriers to self-monitoring still remains lack of confidence in self-care technology. We are continually committed to developing products that improve the quality of life of diabetes patients. Glucocard 01 is a significant step in this direction. Glucocard 01 offers a high level of accuracy and precision and hence will provide better self-monitoring options to the patients," said Hidehiro Itokawa, chairman, Arkray Piramal Medical Pvt. Ltd.

In photometric technology, used in traditional glucometers, the enzyme on the strip reacts with the glucose in the blood to produce a colour, which is read by the meter. In biosensor technology, as is used in Glucocard 01, the glucose in the blood reacts with the enzyme on the strip to produce a current, which can be measured by the meter. Measuring the current provides superior accuracy in comparison to measuring colour intensity, which can in turn be affected by temperature and light variation.

Glucocard 01 uses a unique combination of a Ruthenium-based mediator and thin film, carbon-coated electrodes, which makes the testing strips (all glucometers require disposable testing strips) free from temperature and humidity interference, thus ensuring accurate and precise results. In addition, the new glucometer provides automatic calibration (minimising chances of manual errors) and a temperature compensation mechanism (using an in-built thermistor). As the blood sample required for testing is minimal (0.3 microlitres) for Glucocard 01, this ensures a virtually error-free and pain-free testing experience for the patient.

With a diabetic population of more than 40 million in India, use of glucometers can provide up-to-date information on blood glucose patterns over a period of time. The blood glucose system market in India is estimated to be more than Rs one billion in size and is estimated to be growing at around 20 per cent.

Glucocard 01 is available at pharmacies across the country. It can also be procured by dialing the customer service number of the company.