Institute For The Future

Have you taken your smart pill today?

Coming soon to a pharmacy near you . . . pills that can monitor when they have been taken and what effects they are having on your body. Michael Chorost, who spoke at IFTF's recent Ten Year Forecast Conference, reports in MIT's Technology Review about Proteus Biomedical's development of in-body computing platforms.

Proteus is advancing the field of intelligent medicine with its "Raisin System," in which a pill can be embedded with an "ingestible event marker" (IEM). An IEM is a sand-grain-size microchip with a thin-film battery that is activated on ingestion, as it is exposed to water. According to Proteus, the battery is nontoxic because it is made from materials similar to those in a vitamin pill; an IEM could cost less than a penny each when manufactured in volume. Once activated, the IEM sends a high-frequency electrical current through the body's tissues. The current is modulated in such a way that it provides a unique marker of the pill. Unlike an RFID, it uses the conductive tissues of the body to conduct the signal (rather than a radio) and the signal is confined within the body.

A patch on the patient's chest or abdomen contains a receiver that picks up and logs the IEM's electrical current. The receiver also contains sensors that monitor biophysical parameters such as heart rate, respiration, and bodily movement. (Monitoring chemistry-based parameters such as blood glucose is possible, in principle, using receivers placed subcutaneously under the skin, but according to a Proteus' executive, is more challenging to do technologically.)

The data are uploaded to a server via a cell phone or a computer. The patient can then be advised to adjust dosages or change medications.

So what's the point?

The Raisin System allows for the sharing of information to promote compliance. For example, people dealing with mental illness often have a hard time sticking to their regimens, despite the best of intentions. Proteus' technology would alert relatives or other caregivers if the patient misses a dose. Drug compliance issues also affect many other medical problems. According to Proteus' co-founder, 40% of hospital readmissions for heart failure are the result of patients failing to take their medications as directed. Others are also developing technology that will help keep track of compliance. For example, you can read about the MagneTrace Necklace, which records when magnetized pills pass through a patient's esophagus and sends the information to a mobile device or computer, here.

What intrigues me about Proteus' technology is that it can go beyond merely monitoring the popping of pills. Because even when a regimen is followed, it may not be the best regimen for that individual patient. Dosages for drug use are generally derived from large clinical trials and do not take into account a particular patient's circumstances. Michael quotes a cardiologist who works as a consultant for Proteus: "'Imagine a situation where drug ingestion is tracked, and heart pressure before, immediately after, and later are known. . . . That represents real, individualized, tailored drug therapy.'"

I look forward to the day when my medication regimen can truly be adjusted to meet my body's specific physiological and biochemical needs.

(Thanks to my colleague, Miriam Lueck, for finding this story.)