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Beep! It's Your Medicine Nagging You

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From the Wall Street Journal

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052748703431604575095771390040

944-lMyQjAxMTAwMDAwMjEwNDIyWj.html

Beep! It's Your Medicine Nagging You

Much of the medicine prescribed to treat chronic conditions like high blood

pressure and diabetes doesn't work-because patients neglect to take it.

But what if someone, or something, called to remind them every time they

were due for a dose?

Express Scripts Inc., the big St. Louis pharmacy-benefit manager, is about

to test an electronic pill container that issues a series of increasingly

insistent reminders, in a national study among patient members.

Vitality The GlowCap gives electronic reminders and collects data on

habits.

..

The container-actually a high-tech top for a standard pill bottle called a

" GlowCap " -is equipped with a wireless transmitter that plugs into the wall.

When it is time for a dose of medicine, the GlowCap emits a pulsing orange

light; after an hour, the gadget starts beeping every five minutes, in

arpeggios that become more complicated and insistent. After that, the device

can set off an automated telephone or text message reminder to patients who

fail to take their pills. It also can generate email or letters reporting to

a family member or doctor how often the medication is taken.

It is one of the high-tech ways companies are grappling with medicine

noncompliance. Only about half of patients who are prescribed a medication

for a chronic condition are still taking the drug regularly after a year,

says Touchette, assistant professor of pharmacy practice at the

University of Illinois at Chicago.

Patients have lots of reasons for not taking their medicine. Some experience

unpleasant side effects. Others believe the drug doesn't work. They can't

afford the cost of taking it every day. Or they simply forget.

Novartis AG has licensed rights to a minuscule edible chip, from Proteus

Biomedical Inc., which attaches to a pharmaceutical; when it hits the

patient's stomach, the chip sends a signal to the patient and designated

individuals. Another system, from Leap of Faith Technologies Inc., issues

automated phone reminders to patients, who can scan bar codes or electronic

chips on their drug labels to confirm they're taking the right medications.

Various applications for the Apple iPhone also offer prompts to take

medicine.

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052748703431604575095771390040

944-lMyQjAxMTAwMDAwMjEwNDIyWj.html

Zavie (age 71)

67 Shoreham Avenue

Ottawa, Canada, K2G 3X3

dxd AUG/99

INF OCT/99 to FEB/00, CHF

No meds FEB/00 to JAN/01

Gleevec since MAR/27/01 (400 mg)

CCR SEP/01. #102 in Zero Club

2.8 log reduction Sep/05

3.0 log reduction Jan/06

2.9 log reduction Feb/07

3.6 log reduction Apr/08

3.6 log reduction Sep/08

3.7 log reduction Jan/09

3.8 log reduction May/09

3.8 log reduction Aug/09

4.0 log reduction Dec/09

e-mail: zmiller@...

Tel: 613-726-1117

Fax: 613-482-4801

Cell: 613-282-0204

ID: zaviem

Tel in FL: 561-429-5507

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