The Tell-tale Pill
12 MAY 2008 – Patient compliance is a horrible term, suggesting that it is the patients who need to comply with the rational orders given by their doctors. Unfortunately non-adherence to treatments is a real and serious problem; despite having a rational interest in getting well patients are often forgetful or think the regimen is wrong in some way. Even when patients take their pills every day the efficacy of the pills can be problematic. Individual reactions to drugs is the rule, not the exception, and finding the right dose for the right person both takes time, requires medical observation and repeated visits to the doctor.

An interesting approach is being developed by Proteus Biomedical, a California startup: pills that report when they are taken. The system works by putting small chips in the pills. The chip is powered by a thin-film battery that activates in contact with water, and sends high-frequency current signals to a worn (or possibly implanted) receiver.

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