Medication that spies on you?
By Valli McAdam, third year chemistry
Digital pills that can record when you are taking your medication? Is this a step in the wrong direction for medical ethics and patient confidentiality?
Medication that spies on you?
Yes, that’s correct, you have read the title right. What if your medication had a mind of its own? What if instead of needing to set a daily alarm to remind yourself, your medication could remind you instead? Seems a bit far-fetched doesn’t it? Well maybe its not so far away…
The information generated from the pills can be fed back not only to doctors, but to family members and carers too.
The latest gadget in the world of medication is a digital pill called Abilify MyCite. This was approved in November 2017 by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These pills contain electronic sensors which are activated when they come into contact with stomach fluid. So, although the pills can’t shout at you just yet, they can inform your doctor if and when you’ve taken the medication. Furthermore, in order to keep better track of the patient’s medication, with their consent, the information generated from the pills can be fed back not only to doctors, but to family members and carers too.
Photo by Simone van der Koelen / Unsplash
This digital pill is currently used in antipsychotic medication used to treat people with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It is hoped that this design will help ensure patients are properly following medication regimes, which should help them cope with their mental health more effectively.
Branded by many as the ‘snitch pill’
However, as expected, there has been some backlash. Many people have questioned the ethical issues surrounding the use of such a drug, with it being branded by many as the ‘snitch pill’. Is the ‘snitch pill’ an invasion of privacy? Will this pressure patients into taking medication that they be unhappy with?
Nowadays there are so many pieces of information that companies have about us; biometric data used to unlock phones, credit history used in banks, even our web history is used to target us with specific adverts. Is there any getting away from being monitored, in a world where our information is being increasingly used? Surely our health is the one thing that should be kept private? Concerns have been raised about how secure the information will be, and whether hackers could use medical history as blackmail. Will children with no consent be forced to use tracking pills? Could employers demand this medical information from you when you’re on sick leave? There are many unanswered questions brewing.
But there are lots of potential upsides. For many adults with mental health problems, the world can be an isolating place. Lots of adults may not have adequate support around them to encourage them to continue with medication regimes, monitoring their medication intake may be the motivation they need. Abilify MyCite will allow doctors to make more accurate assessments based on information obtained from these digital pills. It is currently estimated that 50 % of all patients who receive their medication do not take it properly, there is no doubt this kind of technology will help with patient compliance (and ultimately patient safety)!
Whatever your stance on the issue, it is undoubtably a difficult topic. The FDA may need to clarify some rules about how the drug should be used to ensure private information is not at risk. With the drug having only been available from November 2017, there is not yet the body of data to determine the extent of improvement on patient compliance. It is clear that more information and testing is required, so for now it is simply a waiting game.
Featured Image: Unsplash / rawpixel