Pharmaceutical Drugs as a spying tool.
Look out, your medicine is watching you
- By Ben Hirschler
NEW YORK | Mon Nov 8, 2010 5:29pm EST
(Reuters) - Novartis AG plans to seek regulatory approval within 18 months for a pioneering tablet containing an embedded microchip, bringing the concept of "smart-pill" technology a step closer.
The initial program will use one of the Swiss firm's established drugs taken by transplant patients to avoid organ rejection. But Trevor Mundel, global head of development, believes the concept can be applied to many other pills.
"We are taking forward this transplant drug with a chip and we hope within the next 18 months to have something that we will be able to submit to the regulators, at least in Europe," Mundel told the Reuters Health Summit in New York.
"I see the promise as going much beyond that," he added.
Novartis agreed in January to spend $24 million to secure access to chip-in-a-pill technology developed by privately owned Proteus Biomedical of Redwood City, California, putting it ahead of rivals.
The biotech start-up's ingestible chips are activated by stomach acid and send information to a small patch worn on the patient's skin, which can transmit data to a smartphone or send it over the Internet to a doctor.
Mundel said the initial project was focused on ensuring that patients took drugs at the right time and got the dose they needed -- a key issue for people after kidney and other transplant operations, when treatment frequently needs adjustment.
Longer-term, he hopes to expand the "smart pill" concept to other types of medicine and use the wealth of biometric information the Proteus chip can collect, from heart rate and temperature to body movement, to check that drugs are working properly.
Because the tiny chips are added to existing drugs, Novartis does not expect to have to conduct full-scale clinical trials to prove the new products work. Instead, it aims to do so-called bioequivalence tests to show they are the same as the original.
A bigger issue may be what checks should be put in place to protect patients' personal medical data as it is transmitted from inside their bodies by wireless and Bluetooth.
"The regulators all like the concept and have been very encouraging. But ... they want to understand how we are going to solve the data privacy issues," Mundel said.
A technology that ensures a patient takes his or her medicine and checks that it is working properly should deliver better outcomes and justify a higher price tag.
(Reporting by Ben Hirschler. Editing by Robert MacMillan)
Read More: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6A754720101108
Top Opinion
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Alex Oger 2010/11/17 23:17:07
and the beat goes on.....
next time we are even going to see the one capsule of food medicine~~~~~~
BUT.
None of these benefits outweigh the fact that a system like this would almost immediately be abused by various agencies seeking only to either exploit or control people. The insurance company example given below is one good example. The government decides it wants to know whether you're doing what it thinks you should do. Uh-oh...your heart rate hasn't shown any signs of increased activity all day...you didn't exercise today! You get slapped with a fine! We detect from the hormones in your system that you're pregnant and you just ingested alcohol or nicotine! Who cares that you're only 3 weeks along and don't even know you're pregnant yet, let's send in the SRS attack dogs!
Yeah...I'll pass.
Short story
Insurance company: Are you interested with our services?
You: Yes.
Insurance company: There is just a little requirement. You will need to take some sort of specific medicine...you know these one who have tiny chips in it.
You: What if I refuse?
Insurance company: If you refuse then we will have to refuse your application.
You: Fine. I accept your conditions.
Two years later.
You: I have been taking those medicine for two years and I'm still sick. I want my money back.
Insurance company: Unfortunately, our review of your file indicates that you didn't take your medicine on Thanksgiving and Christmas day. So, it is your fault that you are still sick. We can't therefore reimburse you. Sorry for the inconvenience this may cause
Society and Healthcare Corporations as a whole need to start realizing that we can only help people live soooo long... it should be about quality not quantity!!
How would having tracking chips built into an allopathic drug benefit the patient who's using allopathic medicine?