Alphabet's life sciences unit halts glucose-sensing lens project

(Reuters) - Verily, Alphabet Inc's life sciences division, is putting on hold one of its oldest and high-profile projects, a smart lens to help monitor sugar levels.

The project, started in 2014, aimed to help diabetics better manage their blood sugar levels by embedding sensors on a contact lens to monitor the glucose levels in their tears.

Verily on Friday cited https://blog.verily.com/2018/11/update-on-our-smart-lens-program-with.html insufficient consistency in the correlation between tear glucose and blood glucose concentrations to support the requirements of a medical device.

Verily, which was previously part of the tech giant's Google X research and development unit, had partnered with Novartis' eye-care division, Alcon, to develop the lens.

Novartis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Verily said it would continue to work with Alcon on two other programs, a smart accommodating contact lens for presbyopia, or far-sightedness, and a smart intraocular lens for improving sight following cataract surgery.

Verily received an $800 million investment from Singapore state investor Temasek last year.

(Reporting by Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru and Paresh Dave in San Francisco; Editing by Maju Samuel)