Digital medicine

The era of digital medicine has come close after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the first time through sensor tablets.

Can't you remember if you took morning medicine? With the new technology of California-based Proteus Digital Health, patients do not have to worry about this, especially in times of too much distraction. FDA has approved a new drug, allowing patients and doctors to monitor the medication status in patients.

Chip medications have been approved for use in the US - (Photo: Proteus)

The line of tablets in question contains a micro-sized sand-sized microchip, which monitors the patient's response to treatment, according to a Nature report. Currently the pill containing the chip is only allowed to be used with placebo, but Proteus, the leader in smart drug manufacturing, hopes the FDA will soon approve the list of accompanying drugs. The co-founder and medical director of Proteus is George Savage, who says these pills can be used for a variety of diseases, from drug-resistant TB to diabetes.

Talking to Nature, Savage stressed that the goal of sensor medicine is to understand how patients respond to therapy.'This allows the doctor to adjust the prescription dose or change the new medication if the current prescription is not appropriate , ' Savage said. So how does the digital tablet work? The sensor is made of tiny silicon chips that contain a lot of magnesium and copper. When the patient drinks, the drug creates a weak voltage that responds to gastrointestinal fluid. The voltage will send a signal to a patch posted on the patient, and from there the necessary information will be transferred to the mobile device provided by the treating doctor. The patient's digitized information can also be automatically integrated into the electronic medical record, or stored on the person's own mobile device.

It sounds like a product of a science fiction movie, but that's just the beginning. The Nature journal also has information on similar technologies being studied, such as implantable devices that allow for injections of prescribed hours, as well as sensors that transfer information about electrocardiograms to people's smartphones. sick.

Welcome to the world of new-generation therapies, though swallowing electronic pills is not a pleasurable prospect of many people, if not to say it is a bit horrifying!