A “smart pill” which texts patients’ mobile phones if they forget to take their medication is being tested in the UK. The pill which has a micorship can send signals to a patch located on the patients shoulder and can also send a text if they forgets to take the medication. Futhermore the pill can monitor the activity of the patient’s heart and sleeping habits. The pill was initailly trialed out in the US, where it increased the patients’s consistency in takimg the pills from 30% to 80%.
US and UK hope to conduct longer trials of the pill. If successful, the pill would encourage the patients to take more responsibity in looking after their health and therefore would be less likely to be admitted to hospital. The chips are small, digestible and made from food ingredients.
