Alphabet's Verily Halts Diabetes-Detecting Contact Lens Project

Alphabet Inc.’s experimental medical technology unit Verily halted one of its longest-running projects on Friday: the development of a contact lens that measures glucose levels of people with diabetes.

The failure was a mix of technology and biology, Verily said in a blog post announcing the program’s closure. The company couldn’t get the experimental lens, which measures glucose in tears, to deliver assessments of blood glucose with enough consistency to be used as a medical device. Verily had partnered with Novartis AG’s Alcon unit on the project.