usenet@mantra.com (dr. jai

Diabetes-testing device available over the counter

At Metrika Inc., CEO and Los Altos
resident Michael Allen shows the
manufacturing facilities for the
A1CNow hemoglobin testing device.

By Tim Seyfert, Town Crier Staff Writer
The Los Altos Town Crier
Thursday, July 3, 2003

Innovative ideas are often conceived at unexpected times.
In the case of Los Altos resident Michael Allen, it was
while on vacation that he visualized the concept for his
own breakthrough brainchild.

Six years ago, Allen was flying back from the East Coast
when he saw a magazine ad for a pocket calculator. Allen
had worked in the medical device industry for nearly 20
years, and the ad got his mind-wheels cranking over how
to make medical equipment more compact and convenient,
specifically medical instruments for diabetes.

He came up with the idea for a handheld, disposable
diabetes-testing device that could quickly calculate the
body's glycated hemoglobin -- something normally done
only in doctors' offices. After initial research, Allen,
who has a degree in biochemistry from the University of
California at Berkeley, set up shop in his garage and
enlisted the help of experts in micro-optics and
electronics to help develop the product.

"I realized there was a demand in the market for
something like this," Allen said. "There was no device
out there that tracked the disease, which is what really
counts with diabetes. Diabetics were having to go to the
doctor's office and wait up to a week for lab results."

Since 1994, Allen has manufactured and marketed the
testing device, sold under the name A1CNow, through his
Sunnyvale-based company, Metrika Inc. Allen serves as
chairman and CEO of the company, which employs around 80
people.

As of January, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
cleared the company to sell the diabetes monitor over the
counter. The device had been available since last summer,
but for use only in medical offices and laboratories. . . .
*[...]
This is only an excerpt -- read the complete news at:

http://www.losaltosonline.com/articles/2003/07/02/news/business/news01.txt

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