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Researchers use digital pill to study medication adherence

Researchers at UMass Medical School will soon begin a pilot study to explore how a digital pill would allow doctors to monitor patients who do not take their medicine as prescribed in real-timeโ€“a major health care problem in the United States.

โ€œAs many as 20 percent of people who get prescriptions do not get them filled, and 50 percent of patients do not take them as prescribed by their physician,โ€ said Edward Boyer, MD, PhD, professor of emergency medicine and a toxicology expert. โ€œNon-adherence can result in worsening health conditions and also an increase in health care costs because of unnecessary follow-up treatments, ER visits and even treatment failure.โ€

Dr. Boyer, Peter Chai, MD, a medical toxicology fellow, and colleagues published preliminary research in the Journal of Medical Toxicology that examined how an ingestible sensor or โ€œdigital pillโ€ provides a new opportunity to improve medical adherence. As described in the paper, researchers have been working with e-Tect, the Florida-based biotech company that makes the ID-Cap system. It is a gelatin capsule with an embedded wireless sensor that comes in various sizes and is designed to hold the patientโ€™s medicine. All the patients have to do is take their medicine as they normally would. The capsule dissolves in the body like a normal pill. Once ingested, stomach acid activates the pill, which contains a transmitter. A hip-mounted device about the size of an iPod then downloads critical information to the web.

โ€œWe will know within a few minutes of whether the patient has taken their medicine,โ€ Boyer said. โ€œThe information will also alert us if a patient does not adhere to the prescription, giving us the opportunity to intervene and improve overall medication adherence.โ€

In the pilot study, researchers will analyze the medication adherence of up to 30 patients who are prescribed the opioid drug oxycodone on an as-needed basis after being treated in the emergency room with a below the knee extremity fracture. Researchers hope the information collected from the digital pill will give them a better sense of how the patients take their medications, when they take them and how many pills they ingest.

โ€œFor the elderly who may have difficulty remembering to take their medication, this technology would be fantastic. For people who have to take medications on a long-term basis, this would be very useful. The applications for this kind of technology are enormous,โ€ Boyer said.

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