I Am Robot

Alright, this is weird.

Novartis has developed a chip that is implanted under the skin of patients to help improve compliance with certain medications. The way it works is that receives a signal from a second device that is inside of a pill. When the patient takes the pill, the chip under the skin looks for that signal. If the signal is not detected when it is scheduled, the chip will text/email a mobile device alerting the patient to the missed dose as a reminder to take it. Apparently Novartis says this little device works in improving compliance, and while it is certainly kinda creepy I think that it could prove to be very useful in helping patients remember to take medications as prescribed (especially with medications where a consistent dosing schedule is important, such as anti-hyperglycemic meds or blood pressure meds). My main question is, though, how much will this cost?

The implanted chip probably wouldn't be that much, but who knows how much a device built into every single pill would cost?

Read about it here.