Although wearable biosensors as a whole have not yet been widely successful commercially or been incorporated into clinical decision-making, the promise of measuring analytes such as glucose continuously and non-invasively continue to drive investment, intellectual property (see Patent Table) and technological development in the field (see Review by Kim et al.).

People living with diabetes are getting ever closer to having such a device that would free them from frequent and sometimes painful needle pricks. For such a potentially life-and-death situation as type 1 diabetes, though, there’s little room for error; the field is rife with near misses. In the meantime, wearable continuous glucose monitors, several of which are in the market today, get partway there, while technology developers continue to go after accessible fluids, such as sweat, tears and saliva (see News Feature).

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