The award, made under the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) of the European Community, will fund a four-year research and development project into the so called "DIAdvisor" glucose prediction system that will utilise Toumaz's Sensium wireless body monitoring technology.

First stage data gathering and clinical trials are planned to start in August 2008, with initial data expected by the end of the year.

The project is being coordinated by Novo Nordisk A/S (Copenhagen, Denmark) a world leader in diabetes care, and links 13 medical, industrial and academic partners, including the European region of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF).

Others include Johannes Kepler Universitaet Linz (Austria), Lunds Universitet (Sweden), Universita Degli Studi di Padova (Italy), Centre Hospitalier Regional Universitaire de Montpellier (France), Toumaz Technology Ltd (Abingdon, England) , Sensor Technology and Devices Ltd (UK), Ondalys SARL (France), Romsoft SRL (Romania), Institut Klinicke a Experimentalni Mediciny (Czech Republic), RICAM, Oesterreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (Austria), and Ramboll Danmark A/S (Denmark).

The aim is to provide insulin dependent patients with much greater control in managing their condition. Current diabetes management techniques are restricted to the analysis of blood glucose history, with almost no ability to predict what blood glucose levels might be in several hours' time.

The device will leverage sophisticated analysis of physiological inputs from non-intrusive body-worn wireless monitors based on the Sensium platform. This means the DIAdvisor will be capable of wirelessly connecting and providing information and trend data directly to healthcare providers, to enable further therapy improvements and treatment cost reduction.

Prediction of blood glucose levels will come from glucose measurements, insulin delivery data and specific patient parameters, to allow patients at any time to actively and accurately predict their short-term blood glucose outlook.

Toumaz's role in the project will be to implement the DIAdvisor hardware and software platform, leveraging its intelligent data acquisition platform and networking infrastructure to enable multiple vital signs measurements from monitors to be taken and merged with manually entered 'spot' measurements (such as food intake), providing the key data for the creation of physiological mathematical modeling, control and prediction algorithms.

The analysis and prediction information can then be transmitted to a healthcare provider advisory service, with recommended action and treatment advice presented to the patient via a mobile device.