A smart 'smart pills' roundup

The Los Angeles Times treats us to an article on ‘smart pills’ that thankfully avoids the usual cliches like ‘tattletale pills’. Instead it delves into an analysis of the effects of non-compliance (severe in the case of chemotherapy, cardiac and post-transplant meds) and how microchip/sensor equipped pills are only for time-sensitive, dose-sensitive and costly medications–including those in drug trials. The devices include our old friend Proteus Biomedical, but also a new system developed at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta called MagneTrace. This reads the ingestion through a magnetic necklace; the pills will include a microchip that also transmits information about the specific drug taken and its dose. (This also is the first article Ed. Donna has read that addresses the chip ingestion issue.) Another is ID-Cap being developed by Florida-based eTect. Pills with a mind of their own