Subscribe to a Premium pass to Business Insider Intelligence and gain immediate access to Digital Health Pro, plus more than 250 other expertly researched reports. ![]() Sign up for Digital Health Pro, Business Insider Intelligence's expert product suite keeping you up-to-date on the people, technologies, trends, and companies shaping the future of healthcare, delivered to your inbox 6x a week.Interested in getting the full story? Here are three ways to get access: This treatment also differs from Abilify M圜ite in that it costs insurers no more than standard pills. But other smart pills have cropped up that might win payers' trust. Proteus Digital Health, the company behind Abilify M圜ite's tech, also designed a digital chemotherapy pill - and because the sensor isn't embedded in the active medication of the pill, FDA approval wasn't necessary, Stat reports.Abilify M圜ite is priced at $1,650, while generic Abilify costs $20, Forbes notes. If the smart pill adds no value to the medication and can't promise cost reductions, it's unlikely insurers will purchase the costlier digital version.Payers likely won't warm to smart pills like Abilify M圜ite while evidence of their benefits remains meager - but smart pills aren't doomed just yet. Drug companies that developed drugs for conditions that don't generate symptoms - like high cholesterol - could have benefitted from creating digital versions since patients with asymptomatic conditions have low adherence rates, for example. We originally postulated that Abilify M圜ite would serve as a launching pad for other pharma firms to create digital medication for other conditions with low medication adherence.Patients with schizophrenia have among the lowest adherence rate, with only 50% taking their medications as instructed in some studies, per Bright Quest. The US pours out up to $300 billion annually on medication nonadherence - a portion of which is spent on patients who might qualify for Abilify M圜ite and have lousy medication adherence rates. The smart pill was celebrated as a "Band-Aid" to the US' costly medication adherence problem. The idea was: Keeping tabs on when patients take their meds via smart pills' integrated sensors could help payers vacuum up costs of members who don't follow their regimens.Here's why the FDA's approval of Abilify M圜ite held promise for drug uptake in the US: This adds weight to the concerns that have bubbled up since the smart pill garnered FDA approval - and could pump the brakes on smart pills' advancement in medicine. ![]() There's no evidence that patients using pharma giant Otsuka's Abilify M圜ite - the digital version of Abilify, which is used to treat bipolar disorder and schizophrenia - were any better at sticking to their medication regimens than those taking the traditional form of the drug. But a comprehensive review of the FDA's process reveals that the digital pill was approved based on sparse evidence, and it doesn't augment medication compliance, according to a study published in The BMJ. The FDA made a landmark decision in November 2017 when it rubberstamped the first trackable, sensor-embedded pill that connects to a smartphone.
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