21
KIT
Dean is like a dog
with a bone, he is
persistent!
~ Hughes
advertorial
but we had to figure out what was
needed to do so. The components
weren't yet available, but at last the
stars finally aligned and we were able
to build a prototype. It needed more
sensors to capture the data, such as
how big the twist of the pen top was
and needed to track the dose amount
delivered too."
It works via Bluetooth protocol
and 'talks' to a number of software
app providers such as Glooko and
Abbott's FreeStyle Libre, with more
Brief history of Innovation Zed
Thirteen years ago, John Hughes was working at
an e-learning software company. He'd had Type I
diabetes, having been diagnosed at the age of 40.
One day, he made a mistake and gave himself a
'double dose' of insulin, after which he started to
question, 'how can you possibly stop that happening
again?' Ultimately this idea gave rise to the
InsulCheck CLASSIC which told you how long it had
been since you last used your insulin pen. "At least
you knew that," says Hughes, "it was something to go
on if you couldn't remember the details of your last
dose, or if you even had one."
Dean Minnock, now the CEO at Innovation Zed,
came on board as a research student. One way or
another he has remained on board as the company
and its devices evolved. Minnock admits that after
achieving his Masters he was a bit unsure what to
do next in his career. By sheer chance, he saw and
advert that Hughes and the team had put out for
a Masters project to prove the health benefits of
the InsulCheck CLASSIC. He says, "I immediately
understood the value of the technology. I couldn't
understand why everyone wasn't getting the device
for free as a matter of course."
Hughes says, "Dean is like a dog with a bone, he
is persistent! While we had brought the InsulCheck
CLASSIC to market, Dean has helped push forward
the newer solutions InsulCheck CONNECT and
InsulCheck DOSE."
to come on board soon. Continues
Hughes, "Technology caught up with
our dream to make InsulCheck DOSE,
and in some ways the pandemic
helped us focus on it. We were able
to develop it better and faster than
hoped, it's both simple for the user
while also being powerful in terms
of the information it can track and
share. I believe one of the reasons
we been able to get this far with
this idea and product is that pretty
much all the top 20 pharmaceutical
companies manufacture in Ireland as
they are given good tax breaks and
supporting grants."
Currently Innovation Zed holds
the InsulCheck brand, but they
have other ideas too and consider
themselves to be a research and
development company as well as
software experts in the medical
tech sector.
InsulCheck DOSE Is FDA
registered, with a CE mark
expected soon.
John Hughes and Dean Minnock.