Lloyds pharmacies are to sell an edible IC later this year which monitors your pill swallowing regime and sends the data to a mobile phone.
The ICs are made by Proteus Biomedical of California. They contain a digestible sensor the size of a grain of sand and a battery which send signals to a skin patch.
The patch, which last seven days, passively detects the signals from the sensor and sends them using Bluetooth technology to a mobile phone.
Lloyds says that WHO data shows that 50% of all patients on medication to not take it as required. This is a swallowable solution to that problem.
The snag is that the pills and patch for one week’s use are expected to cost £50.
