Buy "smart pills"!
The era of "smart" tablets is coming
Dmitry Tselikov, CompulentaThe British press is buzzing about the fact that soon patients will be able to purchase "smart" tablets with sensors monitoring their use.
On January 13, the California-based company Proteus Biomedical, in cooperation with the pharmacy chain Lloydspharmacy, announced the launch of a "digital medical product" Helius on the UK market. The fact is that compliance with the instructions for the use of medicines is considered one of the most problematic areas in healthcare – especially when patients take several medications that are not recommended to use at the same time.
"The most important and basic thing we can do is monitor the actual physical use of drugs," says Andrew Thompson, chief executive of Proteus. – We have tested the system on hundreds of patients in various therapeutic areas. It has been tested in the fight against tuberculosis, in psychiatry, in heart failure, hypertension and diabetes mellitus."
Proteus has developed sensors classified as "ingested event markers". They can be swallowed together with tablets or injected directly into drugs. In this case, the sensors are embedded in a placebo, which must be taken together with medications. Lloydspharmacy intends to start selling in September.
Such a pill will look you in the eye – and knows everything about you! (Photo by Proteus Biomedical.)
The sensors are powered by gastric acid. They receive energy in the same way as "potato batteries", in which two metals generate current when immersed in a root crop. In this case, each sensor contains a small amount of copper and magnesium.
Sensor signals are detected by a special device that is attached to the patient's skin in the manner of a bandage. The device also registers the heart rate, respiration and temperature, thereby showing how the patient reacts to treatment. This data can then be transferred to the patient's mobile phone, and he will already decide with whom to share them.
Ingested sensors have a long history. In the 1980s, NASA developed "edible" thermometers for astronauts. Recently, some athletes have started using them. Other researchers have created a camera in a tablet in order to see the digestive system from the inside. Unfortunately, when adding functionality, the pills become too large and the camera gets stuck in the gastrointestinal tract.
One of the creators of such systems, Jonathan Cooper from the University of Glasgow (Scotland), founder of Mode Diagnostics, believes that the novelty described here is of interest. At the same time, he notes that internal monitoring technologies will have to withstand the strongest competition from sensor systems located outside the body. His research team was trying to develop pills to detect traces of blood in the lower colon to detect bowel cancer. But eventually, scientists found it easier to adapt their technology to analyze stool samples.
Prepared based on the materials of Nature News: Say hello to intelligent pills.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru
19.01.2012