The Most Beautiful Meter

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Sun, June 22, 2008

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Today I review the most beautiful blood glucose meter ever made. Not only does it look beautiful but it also works beautifully.It's the Bionime Rightest GM100. The Bionime Corp. in Taiwan makes it. Its appearance reminds me of Apple products, especially some of their iPods and remotes. When I Took...

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David Mendosa

6/22/08 8:29pm

Bionime's vice president for the Americas, Jeff Konecke, showed me how much he cares about accuracy and quality by writing me with these comments. They are important enough to share with all of you.

He writes:

I would just point out several important points that users should always consider when deciding on a meter.

1. Is the meter FDA approved? This may seem almost ridiculous, but I have seen meters being sold on the Internet that are not FDA approved. Users should be urged to notify the FDA if they see a meter being sold that is not FDA approved. I once called to purchase a product and asked if it was FDA approved. They said it "was not needed because they only sold via the Internet." This is a complete mistruth and the type of lie that gives our industry a black eye.

2. Even if the product is FDA approved, did the company use a current, relevant meter as their predicate device? FDA approval only requires that a product be as good as another product being sold. As such, a company is free to choose any product that has approval, even 15 year old models using outdated technology, as their predicate device. User can always ask to see this information or go direct to the FDA web site and investigate the company. High quality meters will normally use other high quality and reputable meters as their predicate device. A company's goal should always be to be better than what is currently available, not just equal to it.

3. If users want a higher level of quality, they should ask if the product meets the latest CE standards for sale of medical devices into the EU. The product should be certified to the new EU standard -- EC Directive 98/79/EC.

4. Lastly users should look at what the precision and accuracy of the product is. Both are important. One tells them how the current lot of product is performing and one tells them more of how the product works from lot to lot. This is very important for a user. If a product has the tendency to fluctuate widely from lot to lot, it can cause the users a lot of undo worry as they are continually trying to adjust diet or medication to the new "average." Again, we have purchased products from competitors' companies that will give readings of 80 to 100 with one box of strips and then 120 to 140 with the next box of strips. This should be considered unacceptable. If a product runs in the 80 to 100 range with a given box of strips, that should be the range that all boxes of strips fall within. I always tell users to look at the bottle of strips and look at the "expected range" for the normal control. If the range is very large on the control test, this tells you that the range on any given test is going to be large. Thus, the product is not very precise and users should look elsewhere.

Karen LaVine

6/22/08 11:33pm

That is some very helpful information. I'm going to print it out and post it beside my desk.

Thank you, David!

BoulderDiabetic

6/23/08 12:33am

David,

I think a BG meter/mp3 player would be a great idea! Is anyone making one of those? Imagine listening to Dr. Bernstein's Q & A and then a beep interupts to remind you to check your blood... ;-)

I also remember seeing a picture in one of the diabetes mags a while back about a newcell phone /BG meter device. Seems like it would be trivial to add software on a cell phone to keep a BG journal to record and keep track of numbers. How about a reminder to take your metformin and go for a hike everyday?

-BE

David Mendosa

6/23/08 9:58am

Dear Barry,

A few years ago one company introduced a meter for a PDA. But their timing was terrible, and that particular PDA soon thereafter went off the market. Since then we have had nothing. At the recent ADA meeting in San Francisco at the same time Apple had its meeting to introduce the iPhone 2. One of my friends there told me at breakfast one day that he predicted that Steve Jobs would say that Apple's new cell phone would also include a BG meter. It is the logical device to include one, because it has so many aps already and is growing so fast in the marketplace. But alas, no.

Best regards,

David

Ballot

6/23/08 1:33am

David, I remember the old meters which often took a few minutes to record and left you with calluses on your fingers. They were bulky and awkward and you could easily make a mistake and have to start over. And they did hurt. We have come so far and things have improved in so many ways. Thanks for introducing us to this new meter, it sounds like a great one. I have realized as I am writing this that while I can appreciate this new meter I am still in love with my Onetouch Ultra and probably won't change. But I bet many new, younger persons with diabetes will opt for the newest and the best. I hope the day will soon come when there are no new, younger persons with diabetes. Thanks for keeping us up to date. From an old fart. John

Mike

6/25/08 7:51am

For those of us with no disposable cash to amount to anything, it would have been nice to know how much the meter and the strips cost.

David Mendosa

6/28/08 5:38pm

Dear Mike,

You are so right. But I didn't initially have that information.

Now, Tim Cady, the president of Advanced Diabetes Supply (at http://www.northcoastmed.com/ ) tells me this:

"We are a distributor for Bionime nationwide," he writes. "I've always liked their products.

"We sell a box of test strips for $38.50 for any brand of glucose meter, including the Bionime. We can also bill many insurances for the strips as well.

"The meter itself would be no charge if people get the supplies from us, or if they just want the meter it would be $66.82."

I also want to note that the meter requires no coding, takes only 8 seconds, and only 1.4 microliters of blood.

Best regards,

David

Ernest Barker

6/26/08 3:22pm

The meter looks nice. But, does it have a USB client port. I am just plain tired of buying a different cable to connect evey time I buy a new meter. If it does not have a client USB port, that is a show stopper for me.

David Mendosa

6/26/08 5:18pm

Ernest,

No USB port. But Bionime does have such a meter in the works. Stay tuned.

David

erbaker

6/27/08 3:13pm

Great I am looking forward to it.

Bernard Farrell

7/ 1/08 11:20pm

David

I like the styling on this meter and the sideways insertion is intriguing. I wonder how it would work out with long term use.

I can't find a US-based web site for Bionime and I'd love to add it to the diabetes search tool I've created. If you know of one, please pass it on to me. And if Jeff is interested in another pair of eyes looking at his new meter, pass my name on to him, thanks.

David Mendosa

7/ 2/08 9:29am

Dear Bernard,

Probably the best thing for you to do would be to call Jeff directly. His number is 858 481 8485.

David

Venkat

7/14/08 6:06pm

David,

I was checking for this product Online after reading your article - I came across this website -

http://www.americandiabeteswholesale.com/Search.bok?oem=Bionime

The prices are very cheap and for a 100 Test Strips for $ 34 the website says that they can send the BG meter free.

Any idea if this is a genuine web site?