Smart pills, also known as digital pills, are gaining popularity in the medical field. We are facing a big issue that involves patients not taking their medication as they are prescribed, and this is known as medication non-adherence. While there have been other forms of technology invented that aim to help people take their medication, the technologies do not track whether or not the patient has actually swallowed their pills. Since there is no way for doctors and medical professionals to confirm a patient has swallowed the pill, their forms of medication adherence are not completely reliable.

Due to this issue, the invention of the smart pill, or digital pill, has been developed. The first digital pill was approved by the FDA in 2017 and includes a digital ingestion tracking system within the pill itself. The pill was developed by Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., and the pill is called Abilify MyCite. The pill itself can detect if a person has taken the medication or not. The pill is equipped with a sensor that is made from silicone, copper, and magnesium. The sensor can send a special electrical signal to a device that can connect to the pill. From there, a signal is sent to the external receiver when the pill is successfully mixed with the person’s stomach fluids.

At this time, the patient needs to wear this external receiver on a patch that they place on their rib cage. The patch sends the information it collects to a phone app through Bluetooth. On the app, data such as when the pill was taken, date, and time are collected and saved. This valuable information can be shared with medical professionals, loved ones, and caregivers to ensure the patient is taking the pills and following instructions correctly.

A digital pill is embedded with a sensor that can effectively track drug compliance. Essentially, the pill can send important information from a person’s bloodstream or digestive tract to let a medical professional know how the medication is working, if the medication is working, and if the patient even took the pills in the first place.

Will digital pills actually increase medication adherence?

One of the biggest questions surrounding digital pills is whether they will actually help patients with medication adherence issues. At this time, it is too early to tell how well these smart pills will increase medication adherence. It is likely going to take quite a few years to gather enough information and data to actually see a substantial impact on better medication adherence.

There is still a chance that people who are prescribed the smart pills will wear the accompanying patch on the skin that allows the smart pill to communicate and send information and data to their smartphone. Patients may either forget to attach the patch to the skin, or some people may even refuse to wear the patch in the first place. At this time, the patch also needs to be replaced every seven days, which may be an issue for some people as well; forgetting to change the patch could be quite common.

What does the future look like?

While there is a lot of uncertainty about the future of smart pills, there is a lot of potential for both medical professionals and patients alike. The ability to collect important information and help patients improve their medication adherence will only improve their overall health. This type of smart medication and smart pills can revolutionize the way people take their medications and the ways medical professionals can help their patients get better.

How Smart Pills Share Data from Inside Patients

The IoT is creating opportunities to revolutionize the way healthcare is delivered. Tools like internet-connected smart inhalers, wearable IoT devices that can predict infection by common cold and flu viruses, and even microscopic internet-connected robots that can perform complex surgical procedures from inside the human body are just a few examples of exciting innovations made possible through the IoT.

In 2017, the U.S. FDA approved the first drug with a digital ingestion tracking system. The medication, aripiprazole, was designed to treat mental diseases including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and, in some cases, adult depression. By tracking the medication, doctors can determine whether or not patients are complying with their prescribed treatment.

Within between 30 minutes and two hours of taking the pill, the ingested medication sends a message to a wearable patch attached just below the patient’s rib cage. That patch then shares data with a mobile app that patients can access. They can also share that data with their caregivers through a web-based portal.

Now, smart pills, easily ingestible capsules that contain sensors or cameras, are a growing part of the healthcare landscape, bringing with them opportunities to monitor medication regimens, perform surgeries that were formerly confined to invasive procedures, and measure vital signs like temperature, blood pressure, and blood sugar concentrations.

The global market for smart pills was US$4.03 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow to $6.83 billion by 2026. This growth is being driven by a growing preference for non-invasive approaches to procedures that typically require the surgical placement of equipment (eg. fibre optics) into patients to diagnose and treat illness. Now, common procedures, like endoscopies, can be performed using these ingestible pills.

Smart Pills Enable Remote Endoscopies

Capsule endoscopies, early versions of which were first approved by the FDA in 2001, are a great example of a procedure that’s less invasive thanks to smart pills. These procedures are useful for examining unexplained bleeding in the small intestine, but can also be used to diagnose disorders like celiac disease, inflammatory bowel syndrome, or Crohn’s disease.

Traditionally, doctors performing an endoscopy would use a small, flexible scope with a camera and light to examine the inside of the patient’s oesophagus, stomach, and small intestine. Capsule endoscopies, however, only require patients to swallow a pill with a small camera inside it. Doctors then use that camera to capture thousands of images from within the digestive tract as the pill travels through the various stages of the system.

Patients wear a monitor sensor around their waist that captures the data from the capsule endoscope for approximately eight hours before returning the data collection device to the doctor’s office. Current generation smart pills allow for a more panoramic view of the patient’s insides. The CapsoCam Plus, for example, contains four 90-degree cameras, providing a full 360-degree view of the various stages of digestion. The capsules themselves are disposable.

Protecting Patients’ Privacy

From unparalleled imaging of a patient’s innards to tracking their compliance with a prescribed medication regimen, the challenge of smart pills is ensuring patient privacy is protected. Patients using these devices need reassurance that their private health data is being managed carefully.

In some cases, including the schizophrenia drug approved by the FDA in 2017, the patient is given control through a smartphone app of the data shared from the smart pill. They can choose whether their provider and other trusted healthcare managers can have access to the data, and block their data from being shared at any time, should they be worried about privacy.

Data security in healthcare is already a big concern for patients and providers across the nation. There were nearly two health data breaches per day in 2021, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights, which tracks reports of these data incursions, estimates that 94.63% of the U.S. population in 2021 has been affected by these incidents.

Protecting against breaches requires adherence to good security practices: monitoring for signs of breaches, keeping all software and hardware fully updated, maintaining a strong password control policy for any health data network, and securing IP addresses.

A Smart Technology in Its Infancy

Smart pills have the potential to help create less invasive diagnostic procedures and support compliance with prescribed medication. They are also, however, a relatively nascent tool in healthcare, with much development expected in the next few years.

What are digital medication adherence systems?

vibrant illustration of a smart digital pillbox to illustrate setting medication reminders and schedules

Digital medication adherence systems are technology-based solutions that help patients manage their medication regimens and improve their adherence to prescribed treatments. These systems typically involve the use of mobile apps, wearable devices, or other digital tools to track and monitor medication usage and medication adherence.  They can provide reminders and alerts and support communication between patients and healthcare providers. The goal of these systems is to improve patient outcomes by reducing the risk of medication-related errors and complications and supporting patients in managing their chronic conditions more effectively.

The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) enables digital medication

One innovation in the healthcare industry is the so-called “intelligent pill”. Intelligent pills are taken like normal medication but are equipped with a kind of monitoring technology in addition to the actual medication. In this way, they forward information to a sensor worn on the body. These sensors monitor the level of medication in the body based on a patient’s perceived or diagnosed condition.

The data from the portable sensors is then transmitted to a mobile phone app, which means that patients themselves can access data on their vital functions. Doctors can also do this if the patient agrees. This is how the attending doctors determine whether a medication is working as intended or whether it is causing side effects. Moreover, of course, this can ensure that medications are taken as prescribed.

In November 2017, Abilify MyCite launched the first FDA-approved smart pill that timestamps when the drug is taken. As soon as the pill encounters the patient’s stomach acid, a sensor is triggered, which marks the time of contact and passes this information on to the portable sensor and finally to the mobile phone app. The correct dosage and the correct intake are important prerequisites for successful treatment. 

It almost goes without saying that reliable, consistent, and secure IoT connectivity is crucial for these sensors; spotty Wi-Fi, for example, could be catastrophic.  In summary, this means that such use cases cannot really work without functioning connectivity. As is so often in the IoT world, success depends on connectivity!

IoMT optimizes medical facilities

Many benefits of IoMT revolve around improving patient care. However, thanks to the IoT, medical facilities have also improved, for example through processes that are made more efficient by conserving valuable resources. 

Intelligent technology in hospitals and care facilities, for example, ensures that doctors can better monitor expensive devices such as MRI, CT, and PT scanners and X-ray machines regarding effectiveness and lifespan. In this way, malfunctions or incorrect operations can be avoided as remote sensors minimize the number of manual tests or eliminate them entirely. This frees up time for more urgent tasks.

A common problem in medical facilities is the required relocation of equipment that is in frequent demand. This becomes a problem when a device cannot be located in an emergency. The use of Bluetooth Low Energy location technology allows devices to be located, in real time. A small innovation helps save countless lives. And the costs are negligible. 

A cellular IoT connection has obvious benefits for such a scenario and is a preferred connectivity option for solutions that demand consistent connectivity on the move.

IoMT optimizes medical devices

Nowadays, portable medical devices are popular among consumers of all ages to track their own vital signs in real-time. Did you know that some of these devices not only record data but also perform certain functions based on commands or recognized situations? “Smart associations” are one example. They are equipped with sensors that assess the size of a wound underneath the device to determine whether it is healing or not or whether there is an infection and a suitable solution may need to be administered.

“Networked contact lenses” are another example of wearables in health technology. In 2014, Google and Novartis began developing a networked contact lens that can monitor blood sugar levels by analyzing the patient’s tear fluid. The data collected through the contact lenses is then sent to an insulin pump and the patient is informed of her blood sugar levels and whether action is needed.

Earlier in 2020, it was reported that InWith Corporation had been working with Bausch and Lomb to develop smart contacts over the past year. This advance in non-invasive monitoring of diabetes patients could be life-changing for many, avoiding the daily multiple pricks a diabetes sufferer must self-administer to monitor their levels. 

Advanced technologies in the healthcare sector allow both inpatient and outpatient care to be monitored more closely. Telemonitoring (RPM) enables medical professionals to control vital signs and assess physical responses to previous treatments without having to be in the same place as the patient. The device used depends on the patient’s health.

For example, it may be an implanted cardiological device, an airflow monitor, or a networked blood glucose meter. The device in question collects the desired data. If the values ​​are not as they should be, the data are simultaneously forwarded to a database for recording and sent to the responsible doctor. The doctor can then analyze the information in real-time and react accordingly.

Such devices are often used directly after an operation. They help to reduce the number of hospital visits and avoid re-admissions. 

Conclusion

A study conducted by Aruba Networks in 2017 showed that 60 per cent of healthcare organizations worldwide have already implemented IoT devices in their facilities, and this number will increase dramatically in the coming years. It is obvious that IoT solutions have found their way into the healthcare industry and are indispensable. From better patient monitoring and intelligent pills to low-energy location solutions, the Internet of Medical Things makes life easier for medical practitioners and improves the treatment and care of patients.

Ultimately, the goal of the IoMT is to improve the quality of life for as many people as possible. Such implications will eventually make IoT the most successful application in healthcare. 

As is so often in the IoT world, a solution’s success depends on its connectivity. Without consistent, reliable, and high-quality connectivity, many, if not all, IoMT use cases quickly fall apart or become cumbersome to the point of inefficiency. Cellular IoT connectivity has clear advantages in this regard and is mostly considered a preferred connectivity option.