Bigfoot Biomedical Inc. is a medical technology

start-up A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship includes all new businesses including self-employment and businesses that do not intend ...

headquartered in

Milpitas, California Milpitas (Spanish for or little cornfields) is a city in Santa Clara County, California, part of Silicon Valley and the broader San Francisco Bay Area. Located on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay, it is bordered by San Jose, California, S ...

, founded by a team of people with personal connections to type 1 and

type 2 diabetes Type 2 diabetes (T2D), formerly known as adult-onset diabetes, is a form of diabetes mellitus that is characterized by high blood sugar, insulin resistance, and relative lack of insulin. Common symptoms include increased thirst, frequent ...

. On September 22, 2023,

Abbott Laboratories Abbott Laboratories is an American multinational medical devices and health care company with headquarters in Abbott Park, Illinois, in the United States. The company was founded by Chicago physician Wallace Calvin Abbott in 1888 to formulate k ...

announced that it had completed the purchase of the company.

History

The foundation of Bigfoot Biomedical was started when co-founder Bryan Mazlish's son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Mazlish developed a control

algorithm In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of Rigour#Mathematics, mathematically rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific Computational problem, problems or to perform a computation. Algo ...

to drive the first automated

artificial pancreas Automated insulin delivery systems are automated (or semi-automated) systems designed to assist people with insulin-requiring diabetes, by automatically adjusting insulin delivery in response to blood glucose levels. Currently available systems ...

device for his wife and son. In 2014, Mazlish joined with Jeffrey Brewer, CEO of

JDRF Breakthrough T1D (formerly JDRF) is a type 1 diabetes (T1D) research and advocacy organization. Breakthrough T1D funds research for the development of new therapies and treatments for type 1 diabetes. The organization advocates for federal resea ...

, and Lane Desborough, chief engineer at

Medtronic Medtronic plc is an American-Irish medical device company. The company's legal and executive headquarters are in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, while its operational headquarters are in Minneapolis, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Medtronic rebased to I ...

, to form SmartLoop Labs in order to scale and commercialize the technology. In February 2015, the company was renamed Bigfoot Biomedical Inc. following an article published in ''

Wired Magazine ''Wired'' is a bi-monthly American magazine that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. It is published in both print and Online magazine, online editions by Condé Nast. The magazine has been in public ...

'' about the work of Bryan Mazlish as someone who'd successfully hacked their own automated system and dubbing him “Bigfoot.” In May 2015, Bigfoot acquired the assets of Asante Solutions, the former manufacturer of the Snap

insulin pump An insulin pump is a medical device used for the administration of insulin in the treatment of diabetes mellitus, also known as continuous Subcutaneous tissue, subcutaneous insulin therapy. The device configuration may vary depending on desig ...

. In June 2017, Bigfoot acquired London-based start-up Patients Pending, LTD makers of the Timesulin smart insulin pen, to lead the development of a smart pen solution for people utilizing multiple daily injections to manage their diabetes. In July 2017, Bigfoot entered into an agreement with Abbott Laboratories to develop and commercialize diabetes management systems integrating Abbott's

FreeStyle Libre A continuous glucose monitor (CGM) is a device for monitoring blood glucose continuously instead of monitoring periodically by drawing a drop of blood from a finger. This is known as continuous glucose monitoring. CGMs are used by people who tre ...

glucose sensing technology with Bigfoot's insulin delivery solutions in the United States. In July 2020 the FDA accepted for review the Bigfoot Unity Diabetes Management Program, a dose-decision support system utilizing proprietary smart pen caps and integrating Abbott's FreeStyle Libre 2 continuous glucose monitoring platform. In September 2023, it was announced Bigfoot had been acquired by the

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

-headquartered Abbott, for an undisclosed sum.

Portfolio

Bigfoot's portfolio also includes the Bigfoot Autonomy Diabetes Management Program with a closed-loop, automated insulin delivery system, sometimes referred to as an “

.” It received the FDA Breakthrough Device designation.

References

External links

Bigfoot Biomedical Website
{{Authority control 2023 mergers and acquisitions Insulin therapies Diabetes organizations Medical device manufacturers Medical monitoring