New ‘smart’ pill bottle aids patient adherence and prescription drug misuse | 15-01-2024 |
PillSafe is a new smart pill bottle that safeguards medication, prevents tampering using a unique, preset three-digit access code, entered by the patient to dispense the medication, and an electronic net inside can detect any breach attempt, say the developers. It protects the patient with a patented, innovative pill distribution control system that improves dosage safety, prevents prescription drug misuse and provides potential solutions for the national opioid epidemic in the USA, it believes.?? ?
The bottle uses new, disruptive technology and is claimed to be a groundbreaking economical smart pill bottle for prescription drugs, designed by doctors to ensure safety and compliance with medication in the fight against addictive drugs. Conceived to protect the patient, it safeguards the medication and prevents tampering with proprietary technology that tracks and distributes the appropriate amount of medication at the time prescribed by the doctor.
"PillSafe aspires to protect patients and provide a safer way to deliver medication in the healthcare and drug manufacturing industries," said Dr John Barr , co-founder of PillSafe. "We firmly believe that every pill that stays within the confines of our system is a life potentially saved from drug abuse."
The medication delivery system secures medications at the source. The pharmacist inserts the pills into the PillSafe container, snaps the lid in place and programs the bottle to deliver the required dosage on the specific schedule set by the doctor. Each special pill bottle has a unique, preset three-digit access code entered by the patient to dispense the medication at the time intervals set by the physician. The patient presses down on the lid and rotates it clockwise to access the medication. Then the device is locked again and the countdown timer restarts for the next dose.
The patented technology includes an electronic label that can increase adherence messaging, two-step verification or active advertising from the manufacturer to the pharmacy to the patient.An electronic net inside each container can detect any breach attempt. The container can be programmed to either destroy the medication and/or notify the physician or the pharmacy to confirm compliance. Despite all this technology, PillSafe is still a single-use disposable bottle.
Doctors and pharmacists see the new bottle as a solution to problems which result when patients do not take their medications as prescribed. "From my perspective in primary care and as a detox physician, we daily see patients that have become addicted to anything from stimulants to pain relievers, such as opioids, that create dependence and addiction," said Dr Edward Mogabgab MD.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the USA there were 80,411 overdose deaths involving opioids, which accounted for 75% of all drug overdose deaths in 2021. To combat the epidemic, President Biden requested a historic funding increase of $46.1 billion for National Drug Control Program agencies, recognizing the urgent need for preventing the misuse of opioids and other dangerous drugs.
PillSafe prevents that uncontrolled access to drugs, which protects the drug manufacturer, pharmacies, doctors and insurers, as well as patients, and guarantees the safe and secure documented delivery of addictive medication as prescribed, according to the makers. The technology can also assist in disrupting drug trafficking, assisting healthcare, law enforcement and the pharma industry by reducing the supply of illicit drugs, it claims.
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