Are Digital Pills in Your Future?

February 15th, 2021 – By Dr. Joseph Mercola Contributing writer for Wake Up World

It sounds a little like science fiction — take a pill at home and your doctor is notified. Nevertheless, this may be the future of medicine and it’s been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It was November 13, 2017, when the FDA announced the approval of the first digital pill — Abilify MyCite — for the treatment of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression.1

The pill is designed to digitally track whether you’ve taken your medication and then send a compliance message to your smartphone and even your doctor if you approve of it doing so. Three years later the digital medication costs well over $1,500 for a 30-day supply, even through discount drug provider GoodRx.2

The cost is also nearly 30 times the cost of the generic pill for a 30-day supply. Schizophrenia affects approximately 1% of the population, yet a meta-analysis of 31 studies involving 51,925 people who were homeless found there is a significantly higher prevalence of schizophrenia, schizophreniform disorder and schizoaffective disorder in that population.3

The estimate of the prevalence of all psychotic disorders in the homeless population was 21.21%, and of schizophrenia alone was 10.29%. Plus, the number of individuals who are homeless with serious mental illness has been on the rise since the 1970s4 — which means that, even if the digital pill proved to successfully help manage a person’s schizophrenia and improve compliance, the cost of the technology may be far out of reach for those who need it most.

The Future of Medication May Arrive Soon: Digital Pills

The first digital pill system approved in 2017 required the individual to wear a sensor and used a cellphone app.5 According to Dr. George Savage, co-founder of Proteus Digital Health, maker of the first digital pill, the system was first conceived more than 200 years ago.

Within the digital pill is a sensor which includes copper and magnesium that operates similarly to a battery first developed 200 years ago. The compound in the pill generates a current, which runs a silicon chip. This sends a simple signal to the adhesive you wear on your stomach.

The system generates a current for only three minutes, just enough time to send the signal and for the sensor to gather the data. Information about the time you took your pill and your activity level is then sent to a cellphone app and, with your consent, onward to your doctor.

Although the system was unique, technology-driven and intended to improve drug adherence at the time it was conceived and developed, there was no evidence to prove it raised medication compliance.

More than three years later and under new leadership by EtectRx, which acquired Proteus when Proteus went into bankruptcy, there is renewed focus on determining whether it improves patient adherence.6 Now called the “ID Cap System,” the technology is set to make remote patient monitoring easier and to allow “real-time intervention” of doctors with their patients.

Digitals Pills Scheduled for an Upgrade

As CEO for etectRx, Valerie Sullivan talked about the differences between etectRx, Proteus and other companies in the market. Reiterating that her company is different because their focus is almost exclusively on patient compliance, including branding and clinical trials, Sullivan said:7

“This pandemic era we’re in has ramped up interest in telehealth generally. The remote patient monitoring that ID-Cap System enables can reduce clinical trial costs, eliminate non-adherence among patients and allow for real-time intervention with them.”

In early January 2021, MedCity News reported that etectRx teamed up with Pear Therapeutics to develop products combining the technology from both companies.8 They announced the initial project will be on medication related to mental health. In a phone interview with MedCity News, Sullivan commented on the “value in having patients see for themselves and feel empowered that when they take their medication, they feel better.”9

These digital pills will also contain wireless sensors embedded in the medication to communicate with a wearable lanyard device, as opposed to a patch stuck to your stomach. Pear and etectRx have not yet partnered with pharmaceutical companies to produce the technology for existing medications.

Digital Medicine May Be a Tough Pill to Swallow

Sullivan anticipates there may be some pushback from patients, doctors and even drug makers. Digital Commerce reported that British consulting firm L.E.K. Consulting found the technology may not be as well received as the digital pill companies hope.10

Although advocates believe the technology may improve outcomes by offering precise information about a patient’s use, experts anticipate it will be nearly a decade before these become routinely used in health care delivery.

CONTINUE READING:

Recommended articles by Dr. Joseph Mercola:

• Mind to Matter: How Your Brain Creates Material Reality
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• More Evidence Supports Benefits of Medicinal Mushrooms
• Practicing Gratitude During the Covid 19 Pandemic
• Here’s What You Should Know About Pumpkins
• Drinking Green Tea, Coffee Linked to Lower Mortality
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• The Little Known Sordid History of Psychiatry

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