Apple’s Big Step Forward for its Watch with No-Prick Blood Glucose Tracking Feature.

Apple Inc. is working on a moonshot project that has been in the works since Steve Jobs' tenure: a noninvasive and continuous blood glucose monitoring.

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This project, called E5, it aims to determine the amount of glucose in someone's body without having to prick their skin. Following completing important milestones recently, the business believes it might someday bring glucose monitoring to market, according to people familiar with the work.

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If developed, this innovation would be a blessing for diabetic people and strengthen Apple's position as a global leader in healthcare. The ultimate goal of integrating the monitoring system inside the Apple Watch would also turn the device into a need for millions of diabetic people worldwide.

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Although considerable work has to be done, the move has the potential to upend a multibillion-dollar enterprise. Diabetes affects roughly one in every ten Americans, and blood samples are routinely taken using a device that pokes the skin. Dexcom Inc. and Abbott Laboratories both manufacture patches that are inserted into the skin and must be updated every two weeks.

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Apple has a unique approach, depending on silicon photonics chip technology and an optical absorption spectroscopy measuring techniques. Lasers are used to send certain wavelengths of light into a place beneath the skin that contains interstitial fluid, which contains substances that leak from capillaries and may be absorbed by glucose. Following that, the light is reflected back to the sensor, displaying the glucose concentration. An algorithm is then used to determine a person's blood glucose level.

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Hundreds of engineers are working on the project as part of Apple's Experimental Design Group, or XDG, which is comparable to Google Inc.'s X division. It's one of Apple's most carefully guarded initiatives, and the company is infamous for protecting secrets. It requires even fewer personnel than the company's self-driving car project, handled by the Special Projects Group or the mixed-reality helmet, which the Technical Development Group is producing.

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Diabetic technology company shares plummeted more than 3% on Wednesday as a result of the revelation, with Dexcom and Abbott dropping more than 3% before recovering. Apple climbed 0.3% to $148.91 at the close in New York.

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