Digital, Digestible Pills Allow Doctors to Monitor Medication UseMike Barrett Doctors Could Monitor You with Digital Pills How exactly could these microchips track your medication consumption? The sensor, which is about the size of a grain of sand, generates a voltage in response to digestive juices. The voltage response ultimately transfers a signal to the skins surface, where a patch worn by the person then sends the information to a doctors phone. Although the sensors within the microchip are the first digestible devices actually approved by the FDA, the approval is only based on studies using placebo pills that show its safety and efficacy. Of course, digestible microchip creator Proteus would love nothing more than to have the device approved for the massive amounts of pharmaceutical drugs given out today many of which are taken for a lifetime. About half of all people dont take medications like theyre supposed to. This device could be a solution to that problem, so that doctors can know when to rev up a patients medication adherence, said Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute in La Jolla,California. While Topol isnt affiliated with Proteus Digital Health, the company that manufactures the futuristic device, he embraces what it has to offer, and saysIts like big brother watching you take your medicine. Is that true? Should big brother really be watching over us to make sure everyone takes their medication? The point is not for doctors to castigate people, but to understand how people are responding to their treatments. This way doctors can prescribe a different dose or a different medicine if they learn that its not being taken appropriately, Savage says. Additional Sources: Explore More: This article first appeared at Natural Society, an excellent resource for health news and vaccine information. You can support this information by voting on Reddit HERE 