Digital Pill Approved By FDA, But Some Worry It’s The Medical Equivalent Of A Tattletale
The pill has sensors that alert doctors to when patients take their medication. But some warn the device could breed mistrust.
The San Francisco Business Times:
First Drug OK'd With Peninsula Company's Digital Tracker
With Proteus Digital Health's tracker riding in a tablet treating mental health disorders, patients (and their caregivers and doctors) will be able to tell that the medicine has been ingested. (Leuty, 11/13)
The New York Times:
First Digital Pill Approved To Worries About Biomedical ‘Big Brother’
For the first time, the Food and Drug Administration has approved a digital pill — a medication embedded with a sensor that can tell doctors whether, and when, patients take their medicine. The approval, announced late on Monday, marks a significant advance in the growing field of digital devices designed to monitor medicine-taking and to address the expensive, longstanding problem that millions of patients do not take drugs as prescribed. (Belluck, 11/13)
In other health and technology news —
The Mercury News:
Palo Alto Entrepreneur Brings Tech Savvy To An Illness That Hits Home: ALD
Newly diagnosed with a deadly genetic disease, Palo Alto entrepreneur Ben LeNail walked into a conference of fellow patients and was stunned by what he saw: a tableau of young boys in wheelchairs, profoundly disabled and hopeless. In shock, he turned and walked back out. Then he stopped, and returned. And vowed to make a difference. (Krieger, 11/13)
The San Francisco Business Times:
Precision Medicine Startup Syapse Raises $30 Million To Expand Cancer Tech, S.F. Workforce
San Francisco-based Syapse today raised $30 million in Series D funding to expand operations for its precision medicine software. (Siu, 11/14)