First digital pill without need for direct skin contact

etectRx received FDA clearance for its ID-Cap System, a prescription ingestible system that sends adherence data to an external medical device without need for direct skin contact.

Similar to the system pioneered by etectRx’s high-profile competitor, Proteus Digital Health, the ID-Cap’s core is a standard capsule containing a sensor that transmits a message once it comes into contact with stomach fluid.

However, the ID-Cap System’s receiving device does not need to be adhered to the user’s skin — as is the case for Proteus’ system — but can instead be worn on a lanyard. This receiver then forwards the medication adherence event data to secure provider web portal, by way of an intermediary patient smartphone app.

“The potential for ingestion adherence technology is best defined by the fact that various estimates place the cost of non-adherence at between $100 and $300 million per year just in the US,” etectRx President and CEO Harry Travis told MobiHealthNews in an email. “We view our technology as a tool to be used to provide a very valuable piece of information to the clinician or researcher. That piece of information is to confirm that the patient actually ingested the prescribed medication. We will work with our potential partners to ensure that this piece of data fits smoothly into the larger clinical data landscape.”

With its regulatory clearance safely in hand, etectRx is now turning its attention toward “a broad array of partnerships that could include, pharma manufacturers, digital health companies, health plans, clinical research organizations and specialty pharmacies,” Travis said.

The timing of the agency’s decision could hardly be more fortuitous for etectRx, as just this weekend news broke that Proteus had furloughed the majority of its employees after failing to close a $100 million funding round.

Proteus’ similar technology has been deployed in pilots and studies of patients with hepatitis C, tuberculosis, cardiometabolic syndrome and colorectal cancer and schizophrenia.

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