Friday 20 January 2012

THE (MICRO) CHIPS THAT ARE GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH

 
Pharmacy to sell edible microchips that will alert doctors if patients are not taking right medicines.


January 17, 2012

How easily all of this can be abused!
Imagine a world where the government monitors everything you eat and drink, and makes sure you take all your pharmaceutical drugs by feeding you an edible microchip that transmits this compliance information remotely to authorities. Such a world is almost a reality, as a California-based biotechnology company is about to unveil an edible microchip tracking device in the UK that monitors patients' compliance with prescribed drug regimes, and sends this information to family members and caretakers.

An edible microchip that records the precise details of a patient's pill regime will be available in Britain by the end of year following a commercial deal that opens the door to an era of digital medicines.

The UK's Independent says Proteus Biomedical, the company responsible for making the edible microchip, has formed a commercial partnership with Lloyds pharmacy, a UK pharmacy and healthcare provider, to begin selling the tiny chips to patients by year's end. Smaller than a grain of sand, the tiny chip will monitor which drug pills are taken, and electronically send this information to patches worn on patients' arms. The patches will then send the information to the mobile phones of patients' relatives and physicians.

Like they often do with technology that is unproven and that threatens privacy, advocates of the microchips say they will help improve the efficacy of drug treatments by ensuring that drugs are taken at the right times, and in the "correct" amounts. But what these advocates fail to note is how the technology can, and likely will, be abused down the road to enforce compliance with totalitarian government drug mandates, including vaccine mandates

The aim is to develop a suite of "intelligent medicines" that can help patients and their caregivers keep track of which pills are taken at what time of day, in order to ensure that complex regimes of drugs are given the best possible chance of working effectively.

Ultimately, the plan is for every one of the many pills taken each day by some of the most chronically-ill patients, especially those with mental health problems, to be digitally time-stamped as they are digested within the body.

The healthcare company Lloyds- pharmacy said it intends to sell the edible microchips of Proteus Biomedical of California by the end of the year, as part of a trial to test whether NHS patients would be prepared to pay privately to ensure that they or their relatives take the right medicines at the right time.

"There is a huge problem with medicines not being taken correctly," said Steve Gray, healthcare services director of Lloydspharmacy.

"Anyone taking several medications knows how easy it can be to lose track of whether or not you've taken the correct tablets that day," he added.

"Add to that complex health issues and families caring for loved ones who many not live with them and you can appreciate the benefits of an information service that helps patients to get the most from their treatments and for families to help them to remain well."

Lloydspharmacy said the World Health Organisation has found that about half of all patients fail to take their medicines correctly, which can lead to people not getting the full benefits of treatment, or ending up with harmful side-effects.

Unused prescription medicines are estimated to cost the NHS nearly £400m a year.

The Proteus technology is based on the company's digestible sensors, which are no bigger than a grain of sand. The chips are reportedly made of "ingredients commonly found in food," and are layered with copper, magnesium, and silicon components. When consumed along with pharmaceutical drugs, these chips are activated by stomach acids, which causes them to generate electric currents marked with specific signatures that match the drugs taken. When the process is complete, parties receiving the information will know whether or not patients took their medications, and at what time they took them.
At the heart of the technology is a tiny silicon wafer separating tiny quantities of copper and magnesium, which effectively forms a microscopic battery that generates an electric current when immersed in the acidic environment of the stomach.

These electric currents, which can be given individual signatures to match the drug taken with the edible sensor, are detected passively by an intelligent patch stuck to the patient's skin, in much the same way that electrocardiogram (ECG) skin patches can record the electric currents within the heart.

The patch, which is designed to be worn for seven days, includes a flexible battery and chip that records the information and sends it by Bluetooth wireless technology to the mobile phone of a relative or professional caregiver.

"In the future the goal is a fully integrated system that creates an information product that helps patients and their families with the demands of complex pharmacy," said Andrew Thompson, the chief executive and founder of Proteus Biomedical.

"What we know is that we've created many pharmaceuticals with great potential but much of that potential is not realized because these drugs are not being used properly."

Neither company was prepared to comment on the cost of the digestible microchips, but industry sources suggested a starting cost of about £50 per week.

Time will tell if Brits accept the technology, and whether or not they are willing to shell out their own cash to pay for the microchips themselves. Reports indicate that the technology, at least initially, will not be covered by the UK's National Health Service (NHS

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