A new drug delivery device, smart pill, helps prevent prescription overdoses
A drug delivery device that has been patented by the US Patent & Trademark Office and will be submitted for marketing clearance by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) offers overdose prevention in prescription opioids.
Currently a big issue for the FDA, with the newly appointed commissioner highlighting it as a priority, the opioid epidemic is still growing in the US with death rates quadrupling since 1999. Thus, the preventative abilities of the drug delivery device from PopTest and Palisades Therapeutics are offering a novel option in combatting this crisis.
Dr Neil Theise, lead scientist, the PopTest Companies stated: “With our smart pill technology, we believe we will save lives and prevent tragedies by preventing accidental or intentional overdoses, prescription drug abuse, prescription mix-ups in the hospital and criminal drug trafficking.”
The Smart Pill device prevents overdoses, counterfeiting and diversion of opioids from the prescribed user through communications sent via microchip. Completely individualised to the patient, the microchip is programmed with the prescription dosage. If too many pills are consumed they ‘talk’ to each other via sensors and will not open inside the patient, thereby preventing an overdose and are then passed out of the patient’s system through the digestive tract. Moreover, the microchips can be used to communicate with the pharmacist, clinician or law enforcement.
Programming the microchip so that it can only be used by the pharmacist helps to tackle counterfeiting and diversion of the drug from the intended patient. Theise added: “The pill carries the digital signature of the pharmacist and the digital identification of the patient. This ensures the prevention of prescription mix ups and drug theft. Emergency room physicians can even scan the patients stomach with a remote radio frequency scanner to know the body’s drug contents. With PopTest’s innovation there is now digital prescription drug accountability every step of the way from manufacturer to the pharmacist to the patient’s own body.”