
First Digital Pill Approved to Worries About Biomedical ‘Big Brother’ - runesoerensen
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/13/health/digital-pill-fda.html
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mirimir
This is just too much. No way. These people are crazier than the patients.

I mean, ingestible RFID is a conspiracy theory trope.

~~~
vpribish
and in the real world, medication compliance is a serious problem that leads
to real life death and suffering. internet trolls and tinfoil hatters can fuck
right off.

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mirimir
The juxtaposition of "medication" and "compliance" is horrifying. Let me see.
What comes to mind? Alan Turing. Soviet psychiatric diagnoses. Medication
that's not voluntary is a human rights violation.

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sgift
What else comes to mind: People who forget their medication and suffer for it.

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csmark
\---

When it comes to many antipsychotic medications patients suffer from the side
effects of taking their medications.

\---

So I'm a little curious why an article on monitoring compliance digitally only
talks to patients who are very very unlikely to be noncompliant.

Then there's this misstatement:

"Many patients with these conditions do not take medication regularly, often
with severe consequences."

These people take this medication daily. They may miss a day or two and not
notice. Longer periods, they would notice the slow return of phobias or
irrational thoughts and realize they had been missing their medication and
start taking it again.

For those admitted to the hospital or having a history of severe mental
illnesses:

People wonder why anyone would stop taking the medications and relapse. I have
no proof but think the treatment can be worse than the disease.

Schizophrenia: a serious mental illness that interferes with a person's
ability to think clearly, manage emotions, make decisions and relate to
others.

Now look at the list of side effects of Abilify:
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMHT0009101/?repor...](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMHT0009101/?report=details#side_effects)

These patients are on a cocktail of medications each having a list of
potential side effects.

For all areas of health care 20-30% of prescriptions are never filled and half
of all medications are not taken as prescribed.
[https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/09/the-289-b...](https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/09/the-289-billion-
cost-of-medication-noncompliance-and-what-to-do-about-it/262222/)

Factors involved in the high rate of noncompliance in psychiatric patients:

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3799245/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3799245/)

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PhasmaFelis
> _So I 'm a little curious why an article on monitoring compliance digitally
> only talks to patients who are very very unlikely to be noncompliant._

Noncompliance is a _huge_ problem with schizophrenia. I'm not sure why you'd
think otherwise. Something around 50% of medicated schizophrenics go off their
meds. Google <schizophrenia noncompliance>.

~~~
mirimir
Well, maybe ~50% of medicated schizophrenics consider the side effects to be
worse than the disorder.

Keeping crazies drugged so they don't bother their caregivers is pretty far
down the slope, in my opinion.

~~~
PhasmaFelis
Is that really the best reason you can think of to treat schizophrenia? I'd
think "so they don't harm themselves or others" might rate a bit higher, just
for one example.

~~~
mirimir
Well, harming themselves is pretty much OK.

Harming others isn't OK, of course. But drugging people isn't an acceptable
solution. It's prone to overuse and abuse.

~~~
PhasmaFelis
> _Well, harming themselves is pretty much OK._

Oh. You're trolling.

Sorry for wasting my time.

~~~
mirimir
I am _not_ trolling!

I stand firmly for the non-aggression principle. There's no violence against
others in self-harm and suicide. And unrequested intervention _is_ aggression.

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dmichulke
> First Digital Pill Approved to Worries About Biomedical ‘Big Brother’

Is it just me or does this headline not parse?

~~~
dvddgld
Definitely not just you, it’s an awkward phrase with an awkward cadence

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thisisit
It does seem strange to have a schizophrenia medicine as the starting point.
Is there a biomedical reason which makes the drug to be digitized well?

> Dr. McQuade said, “We don’t have any data currently to say it will improve
> adherence,” but will likely study that after sales begin.

Improving adherence is the whole point of a digital drug but they don't have
any data?

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aalleavitch
Prescriptions for schizophrenia medication have a very low compliance rate.
Partly because schizophrenic patients are by nature prone to resisting their
treatment (due to paranoia, delusions), and partly because antipsychotics are
unpleasant to take pretty much all around (I don't know anyone who actively
wants LESS dopamine).

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RickS
> After several minutes, the signal is detected by a Band-Aid-like patch that
> must be worn on the left rib cage and replaced after seven days

And who watches the watcher?

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EGreg
I can see this being used in psychiatric hospitals when patients pretend to
swallow.

