Novartis, Proteus pilot to lead to exclusive deal?

By: Brian Dolan | Sep 22, 2009        

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Proteus Biomedical's "smart pill"

Pharmaceutical giant Novartis has tapped intelligent medicine start-up Proteus Biomedical for a small 20 patient study to track patients’ compliance with their blood pressure drug regimen. The patients are taking blood pressure drug Diovan and the study organizers track their compliance via Proteus’ “chip in the pill” technology, which reports to a receiver sensor on the patient’s shoulder when the medication has been ingested. The study has improved compliance from 30 percent to 80 percent after six months, according to Novartis.

Proteus’ Raisin technology runs on an electric charge generated by the patient’s stomach acid. The charge is detected through the patient’s body by a sensing patch on the patient’s skin. The patch records the time and date that the pill is digested and also measures some vitals like heart rate, activity and respiratory patterns. The information is then sent to the patient’s mobile phone and then onto the internet for caregivers to review and analyze.

“This industry is starting to explode,” Joe Jimenez, head of pharmaceuticals at Novartis, told the Financial Times. Jimenez is toying with the idea of hiring a “compliance tsar” to oversee the company’s partnerships and initiatives in this area. Jimenez told the newspaper that challenges to widespread adoption of Proteus’ technology for Novartis would include the obvious regulatory concerns, but, interestingly, Jimenez stressed that Novartis would also have to “negotiate an exclusive contract with Proteus in order to expand the approach,” according to the report.

An exclusive deal with Novartis? That would be a huge deal for Proteus Biomedical, but during a panel session at CTIA last year that MobiHealthNews helped organize, Proteus CEO Andrew Thompson pegged his company’s market opportunity at $100 billion.

Regardless, news of Novartis’ trial with Proteus Biomedical is a huge boon for intelligent medicine, personalized medicine, compliance solutions and advanced medical sensors.

“We’ll do all of this for the same price as the drugs you buy now,” Thompson explained during an interview earlier this year. “For one daily price of your medicine you get the drug, the monitoring, the applications and tools, the incentives and the connectivity.”

Read the Financial Times post here

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  • http://3gdoctor.wordpress.com David Doherty

    Quite amazing that a drug company would be so open about the steps it will take to maintain a competitive advantage.

    I dearly hope that critical patient safety technologies like this will be available to improve compliance regardless of the manufacturer.

  • http://www.wirelesslifesciences.org/2009/09/novartis-proteus-pilot-to-lead-to-exclusive-deal/ Novartis, Proteus pilot to lead to exclusive deal? | Wireless-Life Sciences Alliance

    [...] Originally posted here: Novartis, Proteus pilot to lead to exclusive deal? [...]

  • Al

    What would be in drug compliance for pharma companies? Do they actually want people to comply so they can sell less drugs, and hence make less money? You can see that for insurers, but surely not pharma guys… Oh, do not tell me about improving people’s health, life or whatever. Pharma investors are not there for this marketing crap.

  • http://www.medicalfacts.nl/2009/09/24/chip-geeft-seintje-aan-mobiele-telefoon-dat-medicatie-is-vergeten/ Chip geeft seintje aan mobiele telefoon dat medicatie is vergeten | Medicalfacts

    [...] de chip al bij 20 patients die Diovan gebruiken, getest. De Chip zend een berichtje naar de mobiele telefoon van de gebruiker als deze weer zijn medicatie moet innemen. Met deze chip wil Novartis de “therapietrouw.” [...]

  • http://3gdoctor.wordpress.com David Doherty

    Hi Al,

    I take it from your comment that your approach to Mobile Health is from the Mobile rather than the Health side.

    Whilst no doubt there can be some truth in what you write, drug compliance isn’t as straight forward as this for a number of reasons including

    1) Poor compliance is often because a patient elects not to buy/take their medication. A good example of this might be because it has a side effect that makes them feel ill. Using the proteus technology a carer can prescribe more accurately ie. reducing or increasing dose on an individual basis in order to better manage their health and the side effects. This will encourage patients to buy more medication and to have more loyalty to that medication brand. This is something that “Pharma investors” are most definitely very interested in.

    2) Some issues with compliance relate to out of date medications. Obviously identifying these is in the best interest of sales AND avoids the patient safety issues of expired medications. This is also something that “Pharma investors” are most definitely very interested in.

    It is worth noting that the major customer for prescription drugs are Doctors. This custom is vulnerable to change if the brand lacks the effectiveness of other rival brands because Doctors need to keep their customers happy and healthy. Ensuring patients have the optimally tailored medication experience is therefore most definitely not just “marketing crap”.

  • http://neverbeforgotten.palio.com/?p=169 Big RxBrother is Watching – Who Else Dialed In? « Palio –– Never Be Forgotten

    [...] they’ve implanted chips in patients’ shoulders that monitor their drug usage. As reported in mobihealthnews, “patients are taking blood pressure drug Diovan and the study organizers track their compliance [...]

  • http://www.pixelsandpills.com/?p=523 Big RxBrother is Watching – Who Else Dialed In?

    [...] they’ve implanted chips in patients’ shoulders that monitor their drug usage. As reported in mobihealthnews, “patients are taking blood pressure drug Diovan and the study organizers track their compliance [...]

  • http://impactiviti.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/impactiviti-daily-100909/ Impactiviti Daily 100909 « Impactiviti blog

    [...] all for improved patient compliance. But this and this kinda give me the creeps. Not sure I want that kind of technology in my body, giving [...]

  • http://www.refuseresist.net/2009/10/10/novartis-chip-implant-texts-your-phone-when-you-need-another-pill/ Novartis Chip Implant Texts Your Phone When You Need Another Pill : Refuse Resist

    [...] implanted computer chips 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. The experiment was designed to improve “compliance.” [...]

  • http://beyondthecurtain.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/microchip-implant-controversy-a-mark-of-the-beast-or-the-coming-singularity/ Microchip Implant Controversy: a Mark of the Beast or the Coming “Singularity”? « Beyond The Curtain

    [...] finally: Proteus CEO Andrew Thompson believes his company’s market opportunity could be $100 billion. This is delusional. The serious debate here is over privacy and tracking concerns, and whether [...]

  • http://pinroot.wordpress.com/2009/10/13/microchip-implant-controversy-a-mark-of-the-beast-or-the-coming-singularity/ Microchip Implant Controversy: a Mark of the Beast or the Coming “Singularity”? « NWO News

    [...] finally: Proteus CEO Andrew Thompson believes his company’s market opportunity could be $100 billion. This is delusional. The serious debate here is over privacy and tracking concerns, and whether [...]

  • http://mobihealthnews.com/5271/sleep-deprivation-bluetooth-tips-for-adherence/ Sleep deprivation; Bluetooth; Tips for adherence | mobihealthnews

    [...] Despite that, Novartis isn’t shunning the tech side of adherence either: The company recently inked a deal with intelligent medicine start-up Proteus Biomedical. Here’s more on the five tips for [...]

  • http://mobihealthnews.com/6013/novartis-invests-24m-in-proteus-biomedical/ Novartis invests $24M in Proteus Biomedical | mobihealthnews

    [...] to license Proteus Biomedical’s sensing technology for organ transplantation. (That must be the kind of exclusive deal Novartis had in mind when the two companies announced their collaboration on a pilot last [...]

  • http://mobihealthnews.com/8634/nhs-tests-proteus-biomedicals-smart-pills/ NHS tests Proteus Biomedical’s smart pills | mobihealthnews

    [...] giant Novartis has already piloted Proteus‘ technology for a small 20 patient study that tracked patients’ compliance with their blood [...]