The Tiny Breath Device That Could End Finger Pricks for Diabetics

A 2-year-old with type 1 diabetes never wants to get pricked. For Bud Wilcox, that pain point became a breakthrough in breath-based blood sugar tracking.

PreEvnt’s Isaac is a noninvasive blood sugar monitor that analyzes breath for volatile organic compounds like acetone, offering a needle-free alternative to traditional methods.

Unlike optical blood sugar tracking in wearables, the Isaac uses breath analysis to correlate acetone levels with glucose fluctuations.

"This is a de novo application, so we’re educating the FDA as we’re working with them," says Fredrick Brooks, PreEvnt’s director of health technologies.

The device is currently in human clinical trials with adolescents (type 1 diabetes) and will expand to adults (type 2 diabetes), with FDA regulatory review expected in 2026.

The companion app allows users to log meals and alert emergency contacts during hypoglycemic episodes.

This approach contrasts with competitors like Garmin and Oura, which focus on food-tracking features rather than eliminating physical monitoring pain points.