Margaret Caplet, Pharm D, at Tower Medical in Houston, TX has an interesting way to remind patients to take their medications.
“I was thinking about the story of the runaway pancake. And I thought, what if a pill chased after the patient— instead of the opposite. Thus, Come-To-Me Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was born. Our medications want you to take them. They chase you around the house or wherever you are until you take them.”
Medications chasing after patients is an unorthodox approach, but over 130 million adult Americans take medications. Incentives to take medicine would reduce bottlenecks in emergency rooms.
Caplet goes on to say, “A lot of patients go to the emergency room just to get their prescriptions filled. We need to allow more opportunity for actively sick patients to get seen in emergency rooms. Just think if your medications said, ‘Hey, you better take me!’ And chased you down if you didn’t.”
The first medications will be in pill form with a smiley face on one side and the
exclamation, “Take Me Now!” on the other as an incentive. And there’s a biodegradable motor inside that allows the pill to roll after you to remind you to take your meds.
The pill’s motor is powered by – as you probably thought – a pill-sized battery. The battery fits in the pill bottle cap and wirelessly charges the pills.
Focus groups are being conducted to see how patients will react to having pills chase them around the house.
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