Apollon Confirmed for Full $50,000 Clinical Trial Funding from Massachusetts State

Korean startup Apollon's innovative non-invasive continuous glucose monitor (CGM), currently under development, has seized an opportunity to open wide the doors to the U.S. medical market. Apollon was finally selected for the 'Digital Health Sandbox Program' run by the Massachusetts eHealth Institute (MeHI), an organization under the Massachusetts state government, achieving the remarkable feat of receiving full funding for clinical costs, approximately $50,000, for trials to be conducted at the MIT Clinical Research Center. This is a very unusual case where a domestic startup has directly secured a subsidy from a U.S. state government, signifying that Apollon's unique non-invasive CGM technology has been officially recognized for its potential and value within the U.S. healthcare system. The MeHI Sandbox Program is a key support policy designed by the Massachusetts state government to validate innovative medical technologies in real clinical environments and promote their early commercialization. It particularly helps early-stage startups with low market accessibility to conduct testbed development, clinical validation, and user research without financial burden. Participating companies are selected through fierce competition, with key evaluation criteria including the potential for real value creation within the U.S. healthcare system, contribution to expanding health equity, and strengthening the state's industrial ecosystem. Leveraging this support, Apollon plans to successfully demonstrate the accuracy and safety of its Raman-based non-invasive CGM technology and accelerate its regulatory and clinical strategies for entering the U.S. market. In the global CGM market, currently dominated by invasive technologies, Apollon's non-invasive technology is generating high expectations as a disruptive innovation that will maximize patient convenience and change the paradigm of diabetes management. Hong A-ram, CEO of Apollon, emphasized the significance of this achievement beyond merely securing a subsidy, calling it "a symbolic event where the national and social necessity of non-invasive CGM, a next-generation diabetes management technology, has been recognized within the U.S. healthcare system."