Miami, Florida (MMD Newswire) August 1, 2012 -- The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has granted US patent number 8,266,905 for the Diabetic Mouse™, which according to inventor Richard S. Abdallah, represents a big advance in diabetic management and telemedicine. Not only will the Diabetic Mouse make it easier than ever for patients to monitor their own blood glucose levels, but it will also be a boon for caregivers and others involved in patient care, compliance, and cost management. And, adds Dr. Abdallah, it should pique the interests of venture capitalists, manufacturers, and licensing agents.
The Bluetooth ® enabled Diabetic Mouse is a dual-function tool that looks like an ordinary computer mouse, but looks can be deceiving. It is also a glucometer that provides wireless, real-time transmission of blood glucose values to logbook software, which can be installed on the patient's desktop or notebook computer, or on a selected other electronic device of the patient's or health care provider's choosing.
"This device does all of the logwork for the patient," explains Dr. Abdallah. "It helps patients keep meaningful records of changing blood sugar levels, making the process of diabetes management faster, easier and more convenient for the 26 million-plus diabetic patients in the US."
He believes that the Diabetic Mouse will revolutionize diabetes management not only for patients but for caregivers as well. It can automate the transmission of daily changes in glucose levels to an authorized healthcare provider or family member, or to any e-mail address, so the data can be examined, stored on a daily basis, and accessed any time the patient and/or health care provider wishes.
"The Diabetic Mouse provides accuracy and convenience, removing the requirement for the patient to manually record and transfer measured values," he says. "The convenience factor is a huge advantage of the Diabetic Mouse. For instance, it offers a solution for professional travelers; instead of carrying a regular glucometer along with their laptop, they can carry this dual-function PC mouse. And workers who need to monitor their glucose can simply use their computer mouse at a workstation instead of carrying around their glucometer."
He adds, "It will also give healthcare providers a new ability to monitor patient blood glucose values, with patient consignment, any time." In addition, the Diabetic Mouse provides caregivers with the ability to closely monitor any deficiency in treatment, which can be spotted in real time so adjustments can easily be made. "This offers far better disease management," says Dr. Abdallah, "and the importance of disease management to prevent the devastating complications of diabetes cannot be overstated."
Cost containment is another advantage. Whatever their opinion may be on Obamacare, most people agree that out-of-control costs have created the health care crisis in the US. The Diabetic Mouse addresses this problem as well, providing access to payers so they can monitor non-compliant patients, and can work towards a solution to this costly problem. "Better monitoring can mean better compliance, resulting in healthier patients and, ultimately, reduced costs," he explains.
He also envisions the Diabetic Mouse as a useful tool in the exploding field of telemedicine - the exchange of medical data from one site to another via electronic communications to improve patient health and communication.
He notes that the Diabetic Mouse can be used by not only diabetic patients, but also by those with other diseases or conditions, such as pre-diabetes or hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). Some non diabetic patients may also require monitoring of blood glucose while taking particular medication that can elevate blood glucose Even pregnancy can raise glucose levels. All of these conditions and many others may require careful monitoring of glucose levels.
Diabetes and pre-diabetes are on the rise worldwide, indicating a huge market for the Diabetic Mouse. Moreover, the glucose self-testing market is expected to be worth $15 billion by 2015. "This is an impressive figure, and something a venture capitalist should certainly consider," he says.
Dr. Abdallah is a Lebanese-American immigrant physician, who, as he puts it, "came to the US to live and realize the American dream, because I still believe this is the land of opportunities for those who want to work hard to achieve their dreams." And he is dreaming big. The recently issued patent for the Diabetic Mouse is, he explains, just the beginning of an intellectual property portfolio that will include future patents and numerous patent applications, for which he is looking to license exclusive rights to various entities in the US and major international markets.
But for now, he has built a better computer mouse, and is hoping the world will beat a path to his door. "Early monitoring can lead to early diagnosis, which can be used as a new public health approach to diabetes prevention," says Dr. Abdallah. "We think this little mouse is going to make a huge difference to millions of patients, health care providers, and payers - and ultimately, we hope, to the health of the nation."
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Detailed information about the Diabetic Mouse can be found on the patent application data page: http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20100210933
Contact: Richard S. Abdallah, M.D Mail address: 326 NE 29th Street Miami, Florida 33137 Phone number: 1-800-2035641 Fascimile: 305-675-6220 Email: info@richardabdallah.com
United States Patent and Trademark Office: www.uspto.gov