November 13, 2017 FDA ( Food and Drug Administration) has approved a new pill called Abilify MyCite. This is pill
is use for the treatment of schizophrenia, acute treatment of manic and mixed episodes associated with bipolar I disorder and for use as an add-on treatment for depression in adults. Abilify MyCite has a sensor that digitally tracks if patients have ingested their medication or not. This is a new way of monitoring patients but is also has privacy concerns.
How it works
Pill’s digital sensor that is activated by stomach fluids send a message to a wearable patch. The patch transmits the information to a mobile application.Patients then can track the ingestion of the medication on their smart phone. With patients permission their caregivers or physician can access the
information through a web-based portal.
Importance
The technology will help prevent dangerous emergencies that can occur when patients skip their medication. According to Mitchell Mathis, M.D (director of the Division of Psychiatry Products in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research) “Being able to track ingestion of medications prescribed for mental illness may be useful for some patients”. About 1 percent of Americans have schizophrenia and disabling brain disorder. This technology might benefit some patients and prescribers.
This is a new way of monitoring patients but is also has privacy concerns. What if there are breaches of medical data and patient’s personal health record was published in public portal. There are so many other “unknown privacy concern” at this point. Medical professional need to be careful before they prescribed this pill.
