Janssen Healthcare Innovation, an entrepreneurial unit of pharmaceutical heavyweight Johnson & Johnson, is promoting medication adherence with a new secure messaging platform and smartphone app and website.

The Care4Today Mobile Adherence program, announced on Wednesday, delivers reminders to take medications as directed, refill prescriptions and visit physicians when appropriate. Users can request reminders for any prescription – whether or not it's a J&J drug – or for over-the-counter medications and nutritional supplements.

"The Care4Today Mobile Adherence platform can help overcome the No. 1 barrier to consumers taking their medications by providing customized reminders delivered via secure messaging directly to their cell phone, a device that most people carry with them at all times," Janssen Healthcare Innovation boss Dr. Diego Miralles says in a press release.

Janssen Healthcare Innovation has made improving medication adherence a top priority. The San Diego-based group cites a 2009 report from the New England Healthcare Institute which found non-adherence costs the U.S. a staggering $290 billion a year and contributes to 3.5 million hospitalizations and 125,000 deaths annually.

Care4Today Mobile Adherence is available as an iPhone/iPad and Android app, but it also works with any web-enabled phone or PC. Users sign up for free on the website and register the medications they want reminders for. The reminders can be specific or discreet, with coded phrases such as "walk the dog," Janssen says.

Each message asks for a response to indicate that the patient has taken medications. The system keeps a log for users to monitor their own adherence and, if they choose, bring a printout to share with their doctors. For the sake of privacy, Janssen Healthcare Innovation says it does not have access to user identities.

Watch a short video about Care4Today here.