The First Digital Pill has been Approved by the FDA
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved what is the first digital pill for patients in the US that helps track whether they’ve taken their medication.
The digital pill is called Abilify MyCite (aripiprazole tablets with sensor) , and is fitted with a tiny sensor that communicates with a patch worn by the patient. The patch is responsible for transmitting medication data to an app which can then by uploaded for doctors to see. The product is approved for the treatment of schizophrenia, acute treatment of manic and mixed episodes associated with bipolar disorder (about 1 percent of Americans have this illness) and for use as an add-on treatment for depression in adults. _ FDA
“Being able to track ingestion of medications prescribed for mental illness may be useful for some patients,” said Mitchell Mathis, M.D., director of the Division of Psychiatry Products in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “The FDA supports the development and use of new technology in prescription drugs and is committed to working with companies to understand how technology might benefit patients and prescribers.”
The pill comes after years of research and is a venture between Japanese pharmaceutical company Otsuka and digital medicine service Proteus Digital Health, which makes the sensor.
Apart from medication data, the pill also tracks sleep, steps, heart activity and more. However, it has to be replaced.
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