Smart Pills in Drug Delivery: Enhancing Compliance and Real-Time Monitoring

? Smart Pills Drug Delivery – The Future of Precision Medicine

Smart pills are ingestible electronic devices that combine medicine with digital technology to monitor and optimize drug delivery from inside the body. These next-gen capsules can track medication adherence, measure physiological data, and deliver drugs to targeted sites with precision.

? What Are Smart Pills?

Smart pills usually consist of:

A tiny sensor (biocompatible electronics)
A drug payload (the therapeutic agent)
A wireless transmitter (sends data to external devices)

These devices get activated in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and communicate with smartphones, wearables, or physician portals.

? Key Functions:

✅ Track medication intake (especially for chronic conditions)
? Monitor pH, temperature, pressure, or other biomarkers
? Targeted drug release in specific GI tract locations
? Some even offer real-time diagnostics

? Popular Use Cases:

Mental health (e.g., antipsychotic adherence monitoring)
Oncology (ensuring chemo drug compliance)
GI disorders (e.g., Crohn’s, IBS)
Clinical trials (precise tracking of patient adherence)
Bariatrics (gastric balloon smart pills for obesity treatment)

? Market Snapshot:

Rising adoption in personalized medicine & digital therapeutics
Driven by AI integration, telemedicine, and remote patient monitoring
Regulatory bodies like the FDA have approved some smart pill systems (e.g., Abilify MyCite by Otsuka)