First digital tracking drug approved in the United States

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates drugs in the United States, has done something that can be considered a milestone in medical technology: it approved the first drug that can be traced through a sensor. and have information accessed in an app.

This is Abilify MyCite, an aripiprazole-based antipsychotic drug for the treatment of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and other similar conditions-which comes in pills containing a grain-sized sensor made of silicon, copper and magnesium.

Never to forget

Being able to track ingestion of prescription drugs for mental illness may be helpful for some patients.

Abilify MyCIte records the time the drug is consumed and, upon contact with stomach acids, sends a message to a wearable patch applied to the patient's rib which in turn sends the information to the app on the smartphone. minutes later. This data can be accessed remotely, including by the doctor responsible for the treatment.

The pill was developed by a partnership between Proteus Digital Health, a US medical technology specialist, and Japanese pharmaceutical Otsuka over a two-year period.

"Being able to track the intake of prescription drugs for mental illness may be helpful for some patients, " said Mitchell Mathis, MD, director of the Psychiatry Products Division at the FDA Drug Evaluation and Research Center. "The FDA supports the development and use of new technologies in prescription drugs and is committed to working with companies to understand how the technology can benefit patients and doctors."