Medical Translation Insight

Non-compliance with medication is a major health problem worldwide and prevalent for all kinds of drugs and degrees of diseases. For years, health care professionals and drug makers have been searching for ways to improve results from prescribed medicines through better compliance.

Novartis has just taken a huge step forward in this area.

With the help of Proteus Biomedical's Raisin system, Novartis implanted computer chips (not one, but two) into the shoulders of 20 patients taking the blood pressure drug Diovan; the chips sent text messages to their cellphones when it was time to take the next pill. After the text arrives on a phone, the message is also transmitted to the Internet for caregivers' review and analysis.

The development will be sure to horrify conspiracy theorists, civil libertarians, privacy activists, paranoid schizophrenics, animal rights activists, and anyone else who does not want a computer chip monitored by a multinational drug company inserted into their body.

In addition to that, it will be interesting to see how different cultures and ethnic groups will react to this new technology.

Compliance differs substantially across countries and cultures. For instance, a recent European study found that wide variations in patient behavior concerning compliance with prescription drugs can be partially attributed to cultural differences. This is supported by an earlier Dutch study that found big differences in compliance among ethnic minority groups in Holland.

And with huge cultural differences in traditional medication methods, it will be interesting to see how the Novartis addresses cultural concerns as it expands the use of the Raisin technology.

[Via BNET Industries]

For more information, refer to:

• Ft.com's article covering the Novartis announcement
• A recent interview with Andrew Thompson, Proteus CEO and co-founder
• MIT Technology Review's coverage of the Raisin technology