22nd November 2007

VeriChip, a provider of RFID systems for healthcare and patient-related needs, and Digital Angel, announced that they will host events for the medical and investment communities on December 4-5th in New York surrounding the development of an implantable bio-sensing RFID microchip to measure glucose levels in the human body.

Checking blood glucose levels regularly is critical to properly managing diabetes. The conventional method - a finger prick - is invasive, painful and often inaccurate. The implantable bio-sensor chip would have a passive transponder, a sensor and integrated circuitry that could allow anyone implanted with the microchip to painlessly scan it to determine their blood glucose concentration. The RFID microchip would then quickly and accurately transmit the glucose data back to a wireless scanner that displays the glucose level. The RFID microchip would be powered by the scanner signal, avoiding the need for a battery in the microchip.

In October 2006, Digital Angel announced the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office had granted Digital Angel patent No. 7,125,382, titled "Embedded Bio-Sensor System." Although it is unknown when commercialization of this glucose-sensing microchip may occur, VeriChip Corporation intends to market it as Digital Angel's exclusive licensee in the area of human implantable identification products. Digital Angel has also developed a temperature-sensing microchip, Bio-Thermo, which is already available for use in horses and companion pets.

Recently there has been some controversy surrounding the use of RFID technology as an implant after it came to light that research, carried out in the 1990s, suggested that chip implants had "induced" malignant tumours in a number of rodents.

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