Medicine Now Can Be Tracked by Microchips

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Pills for anything from the common cold to diabetes or cancer can be embedded with tiny ingestible chips that keep track of whether a patient is taking their medicine on time.

The digital feedback technology, devised by Redwood City, California-based Proteus Digital Health Inc, can also prompt patients to take their medicine and even ask them to take a walk if they have been inactive for too long.

“Overall, people only take their medications half of the time … adherence is a really big issue across all treatments,” Eric Topol, chief academic officer of Scripps Health, a non-profit medical service provider, told Reuters.

Some patients might not like their pill-taking being tracked but the system can help manage patients’ complicated medicine routines, such as diabetes or heart conditions.

“This is a way to have a “friend” helping look after me, since my doctor can’t be there most of the time,” said Kelly Close, a diabetes patient and the founder of diaTribe, a newsletter for people with diabetes. She has not yet used the pill.

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