Google, which recently announced plans to reorganize the company and its multiple ventures, will launch a life sciences company to develop new healthcare technology, the company's co-founder announced.
Sergey Brin said in a blog post Friday that the new company would bring together software engineers, oncologists and others to build upon work that began three years ago with an effort to fit computers onto contact lenses. The research has since expanded into other areas, including cardiology.
“While I am delighted at the progress that project has made, I could not have imagined the potential of the initiative it has grown into—a life sciences team with the mission to develop new technologies to make healthcare more proactive,” he said.
The life sciences division in Google's laboratory will form the new company under Alphabet, the public holding company that will separate Google's search and application operations from its other business, including Calico, the research and development startup that is targeting neurological conditions among the elderly.
“They'll continue to work with other life sciences companies to move new technologies from early stage R&D to clinical testing—and, hopefully—transform the way we detect, prevent, and manage disease,” Brin wrote of the life sciences company.
Brin singled out the company's work to develop a glucose-sensing contact lens in a letter to investors this year. Google is working with Novartis on the technology, he said. “A tiny chip, using power measured in nanowatts, is embedded into the lens to monitor glucose levels continuously.”
Calico last year entered a deal with AbbVie, with each partner equality investing $250 million in the startup.
