>From the Wall Street Journal http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052748703431604575095771390040 944-lMyQjAxMTAwMDAwMjEwNDIyWj.html
Beep! It's Your Medicine Nagging You Much of the medicine prescribed to treat chronic conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes doesn't work-because patients neglect to take it. But what if someone, or something, called to remind them every time they were due for a dose? Express Scripts Inc., the big St. Louis pharmacy-benefit manager, is about to test an electronic pill container that issues a series of increasingly insistent reminders, in a national study among patient members. Vitality The GlowCap gives electronic reminders and collects data on habits. . The container-actually a high-tech top for a standard pill bottle called a "GlowCap"-is equipped with a wireless transmitter that plugs into the wall. When it is time for a dose of medicine, the GlowCap emits a pulsing orange light; after an hour, the gadget starts beeping every five minutes, in arpeggios that become more complicated and insistent. After that, the device can set off an automated telephone or text message reminder to patients who fail to take their pills. It also can generate email or letters reporting to a family member or doctor how often the medication is taken. It is one of the high-tech ways companies are grappling with medicine noncompliance. Only about half of patients who are prescribed a medication for a chronic condition are still taking the drug regularly after a year, says Daniel Touchette, assistant professor of pharmacy practice at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Patients have lots of reasons for not taking their medicine. Some experience unpleasant side effects. Others believe the drug doesn't work. They can't afford the cost of taking it every day. Or they simply forget. Novartis AG has licensed rights to a minuscule edible chip, from Proteus Biomedical Inc., which attaches to a pharmaceutical; when it hits the patient's stomach, the chip sends a signal to the patient and designated individuals. Another system, from Leap of Faith Technologies Inc., issues automated phone reminders to patients, who can scan bar codes or electronic chips on their drug labels to confirm they're taking the right medications. Various applications for the Apple iPhone also offer prompts to take medicine. http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052748703431604575095771390040 944-lMyQjAxMTAwMDAwMjEwNDIyWj.html Zavie Miller (age 71) 67 Shoreham Avenue Ottawa, Canada, K2G 3X3 dxd AUG/99 INF OCT/99 to FEB/00, CHF No meds FEB/00 to JAN/01 Gleevec since MAR/27/01 (400 mg) CCR SEP/01. #102 in Zero Club 2.8 log reduction Sep/05 3.0 log reduction Jan/06 2.9 log reduction Feb/07 3.6 log reduction Apr/08 3.6 log reduction Sep/08 3.7 log reduction Jan/09 3.8 log reduction May/09 3.8 log reduction Aug/09 4.0 log reduction Dec/09 e-mail: zmil...@... Tel: 613-726-1117 Fax: 613-482-4801 Cell: 613-282-0204 Yahoo ID: zaviem Tel in FL: 561-429-5507 -- [CMLHope] A support group of http://cmlhope.com ------------------------------------------------- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CMLHope" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/CMLHope
