Digital Medicine: Innovative Drug-Device Combination as New Measure of Medication Adherence
2017 ◽
Vol 33
(4)
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pp. 137-139
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Keyword(s):
New Drug
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In September 2015, the Food and Drug Administration accepted the first digital medicine new drug application for a drug-device combination of Otsuka’s Abilify® (aripiprazole) and an ingestible sensor embedded in the tablet that digitally records ingestion. When this digital medicine is taken, it sends a signal to a patch worn by the patient. The information is recorded, time-stamped, and relayed to any Bluetooth-enabled device and, with patients’ consent, to their physicians and/or their caregivers. An encapsulation model in which a tablet is co-encapsulated with the ingestible sensor has been successfully used in the setting of renal transplant, diabetes, hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia.