FDA Clears New Blood Glucose Test Strips

FDA Clears New Blood Glucose Test Strips: The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved blood glucose test strips (FreeStyle Lite; Abbott Diabetes Care) to help patients better manage their diabetes by minimizing the potential for interference by other sugars. Abbott now joins the other companies that use strips that avoid false elevated readings that can result from glucose dehydrogenase pyrroloquinoline quinine (GDH-PQQ)-based methods that can be affected by common nonglucose sugars such as maltose or galactose. The new test strips are compatible with all FreeStyle Lite monitoring systems. The test strips previously were approved for use in the European Union and are expected to be widely available in the US by the end of August 2010.