Unlocking the power of
behavior change
Unlocking the
power of
behavior change
Provigate supports the prevention of diabetes onset and exacerbation
through providing non/minimum invasive and motivational blood glucose
monitoring services.
Provigate supports the prevention of diabetes onset and exacerbation
through providing non/minimum invasive and motivational blood glucose
monitoring services.
"Diabetes is a disease of people who can't control themselves". This is a strong stigma that still exists.
However, with exactly the same lifestyle, some people develop diabetes, and others do not. It's due to their different physical constitution.
Those who happen to develop the disease may need to monitor blood sugar for the rest of their life, and the process tends to rely only on their solitary self-management.
Our mission is to eliminate this solitary self-management with our cutting-edge remote glucose-monitoring technology and eventually eradicate the stigma of diabetes.
We believe people's difficulties in improving their lifestyles are not due to their will but rather a problem with technology.
Today's home-based self-monitoring blood glucose meters face three technological challenges: painful, expensive and difficult. Insurance coverage for self-monitoring blood glucose meters is limited, and 90% of people with diabetes have little or no access to adequate home blood glucose monitoring.
That's why we're developing low/non-invasive, affordable and simple blood glucose monitoring technologies.
Our aim is to provide a remote blood glucose monitoring and empowering application for all people with diabetes and pre-diabetes.
We envision a future where technology enables individuals to choose better lifestyle habits.
We develop a week-average glucose monitoring system with an AI-powered coaching app.
We are developing the world's first post-in testing methods for blood or saliva samples that can be sent via regular mail once a week while maintaining stability.
Clinica Chimica Acta Volume 542, 1 March 2023, 117272
We are developing the world's first POCT methods for blood or saliva samples that can be used at home every week.
We are developing a G.A. telemonitoring system, including an app that empowers users and a professional dashboard.
Our development has been continuously supported by various grants.
”Research and development to achieve the practical use of a semiconductor-based biosensor for non-invasive IVDs – Efforts to reduce the burden of people with diabetes by utilizing blood sampling-free glucose sensors“
”Development of novel technologies for non-invasive self-care devices to monitor blood glucose levels”
"Development of a non-invasive self-monitoring blood glucose meter for diabetes management and prevention"
"Development of a tear fluid clinical testing platform"
”Research and development of a glucose monitoring device with a motivation-evoking glycemic control indicator”
"Development of a non-invasive blood glucose monitoring using a novel tear fluid biomarker"
“Development of motivation-evoking systems to monitor blood glucose level at home”
"Development of an IoT home blood glucose monitoring system"
"Development of a system for inducing behavioral change and preventing progression in people with diabetes by sharing weekly glycated albumin testing data between medical professionals and users"
'Development of a non-invasive weekly mail-in blood glucose management service'
Koshin started his career at Corporate Directions in Tokyo in 2007 as a management consultant, where he led several healthcare projects. He then worked for two years at a private equity firm in Hong Kong before establishing Provigate. He holds a B.A. from The University of Tokyo and a PhD from the Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo.
Dr Sakata is an Associate Professor at the University of Tokyo and co-founded Provigate with Koshin in 2015 based on the semiconductor bio-sensor technology he developed in 2014. His previous work on a next-generation sequencer was selected as Nature Biotechnology's Most-cited patent in 2012 and 2015.
Nature Biotechnology volume 34, page 1009 (2016)
Nature Biotechnology volume 33, page 897 (2015)
Dr. Kaneko joined Genentech in 1980 and participated in the early stages of the US bio industry. He achieved NASDAQ listing as CFO of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in 1991. From 1992, he served as CFO/VP of Business Development at Tularik Inc. (Tularik was acquired by Amgen in 2004). He started investing in the US bio industry as Managing Director of Skyline Ventures from 1999. He served as a director of H.U. Group Holdings in Japan and others. He currently serves as Lead Independent Director of Arcus Biosciences (NYSE: RCUS).
SPARX Group, Corporate Division, Head of Corporate Management
Narushi has devoted his career to making non-invasive glucose monitoring devices and successfully demonstrated the world's first interstitial fluid CGM in 1990 at NEC. After he joined Provigate in 2017, he served as CTO and has been leading the company's R&D.
Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical Volume 1, Issues 1-6, Pages 488-490 (1990), https://doi.org/10.1016/0925-4005(90)80256-Y
People may think of glucose monitoring as simple as this: "Diabetes is a disease of blood sugar. This is why people with diabetes use glucometer."
However, it's not that simple. Blood sugar measurement has diverse objectives, including diagnosing diabetes, dosing self-injection of insulin, avoiding hypoglycemia due to excessive drug efficacy, and behavior change.
You must choose the appropriate blood sugar measurement method for your purpose.
There are two types of self-blood glucose measurement methods: SMBG (Self-Monitoring of Blood Glucose), which is widely used, and CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitoring), which has become popular in recent years.
These two blood glucose measurement methods are designed mainly for patients who self-inject insulin and other injectable drugs.
Until now, there has been no simple and daily method for measuring blood glucose at home other than these two methods.
Some drugs, such as insulin, are very potent and can cause dangerous hypoglycemia if the dosage is incorrect.
Therefore, for example, those who use insulin must measure their blood glucose accurately before self-injection at home and carefully determine the dose.
After injection, if there are signs of hypoglycemia, it is necessary to measure blood glucose immediately. If necessary, you need to take some sugar to avoid hypoglycemia.
However, both methods have an issue with invasiveness. In addition, they cost a lot. CGM costs at least $60 and needs to be replaced every two weeks, which is also a significant economic burden. SMBG requires frequent measurements, so the total cost becomes significant when accumulated.
Unfortunately, SMBG and CGM are not suitable for everyone due to invasiveness and cost.
For insulin users, it is essential to solving the invasiveness and cost issues that SMBG and CGM structurally have.
However, what else is required for blood glucose monitoring for everyone, including non-insulin users?
The purpose of blood glucose measurement is not only to dose insulin or avoid hypoglycemia. Besides, average blood glucose management is essential to avoid long-term complications.
Diabetes is a disease with few subjective symptoms. However, if the blood glucose level remains high for a long time, it will cause arteriosclerosis in the long run. When this accumulates, it leads to neuropathy, nephropathy, retinopathy, cerebral infarction, myocardial infarction, and ASO. In short, the main complications of diabetes are vascular disorders.
To reduce the risk of vascular disorders, it is necessary to control the exposure of blood glucose to the inner surface of your blood vessels. In other words, monitoring average blood glucose levels becomes very important.
The most commonly used method for measuring average blood glucose is HbA1c testing.
HbA1c is a glycosylated protein in which hemoglobin in red blood cells is glycated. Hemoglobin glycation progresses in proportion to the glucose concentration in the blood. It reflects the average blood glucose level for 1-2 months because the lifespan of red blood cells is about 120 days.
It is an excellent biomarker for diagnosing diabetic status. However, HbA1c levels change very slowly. Several weeks of patient effort are needed to reflect changes in that value. It is difficult for patients to judge the causal relationship between blood sugar and meals/exercise/medication. HbAic is not a useful biomarker for behavioral change.
What we focused on is glycated albumin (GA). GA indicates the albumin glycation ratio, which is proportional to blood glucose.
Therefore, it can be used as an indicator of average blood glucose levels, similar to glycosylated hemoglobin.
However, what sets it apart is its lifespan. Since its half-life is only 17 days, GA reflects the average blood glucose level for only about one week.
This is why it has the advantage of being easy to use as a biomarker for behavioral change. It even captures the frequency of postprandial hyperglycemia over a few days.
Today, GA is mainly used in blood tests during hospital visits. While HbA1c indicates the average blood sugar level for 1-2 months, GA shows a weekly average.
GA is usually used as a supplement to HbA1c when starting diabetes treatment or changing medication.
However, we believe that GA is not just a supporting role for HbA1c in hospital tests every few months. It creates significant value when used as a weekly test to measure a patient's behavior change outcome.
Therefore, we are developing a mail-in test method and an at-home rapid test method (Point of Care Testing, POCT) for GA.
The measurement method is simple. Once a week, you can take a small amount of fingertip blood or saliva, and send it by mail or measure it with a POCT device. The result will be returned to your smartphone app. These products and services will be gradually launched from July 2023."
Using weekly glycated albumin measurement and the empowerment app together, users can cycle positive feedback loop of behavior change to induce better glycemic control.
Phase 2 clinical trial is underway on combining weekly glycated albumin measurement and empowerment app to improve glycemic control. We will update the progress of the research on this website.
Let’s make significant innovations in the era of the healthcare revolution.
We’re looking for talented and enthusiastic individuals to create a better future for everyone.
| Company Name | Provigate, Inc. |
|---|---|
| Head Office | R/m 302, University of Tokyo Entrepreneur Plaza, 7-3-1 Hongo Bunkyo-ku Tokyo 113-0033, Japan |
| Date of Establishment | March 6, 2015 |
| Representative Director | Koshin Sekimizu, Ph.D. (President and CEO) |
| Number of Employees | 23 (including one full-time executive) |
| Business | Development of blood glucose monitoring services. |
| Permits and Licences | Manufacturing licence Manufacturing and marketing licence |
Copyright© Provigate, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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