The first digital pill with an embedded sensor to track whether patients are taking their medication properly has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Reuters’ Jillian Kitchener reports.
There’s one less excuse for simply forgetting to take your medication… For the first time, a DIGITAL PILL has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
It comes with an embedded sensor, about the size of a grain of salt, that lets doctors know if a patient is taking their medication properly.
This digital pill is a version of the drug “Abilify” made by Otsuka Pharaceutical which treats schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression… with the added tracking device developed by Proteus Digital Health.
It works like this: The pill’s tiny sensor is activated when it gets wet from stomach juices… it generates a tiny electric charge… and sends a message to a wearable patch.
Information is transmitted to a smartphone app that allows patients to track the ingestion of the medication. Patients can also permit their doctors, and up to four other people, to receive data on their pill-taking through a web-based portal.
Keeping them honest, and on schedule, with their much-needed medicine.