A digital health company that developed wireless pill bottles to record and convey messages when their pills have been taken has closed a Series A round. AdhereTech will use the fresh capital to manufacture a new generation of bottles that are smaller and easier to mass produce. The technology behind the wireless pill bottles won’t change.
The $1.75 million was raised from unnamed investors, according to a company statement. The complexities of improving adherence has been an issue that pharmaceutical companies, payers and providers have wrestled with. AdhereTech’s pill-bottle technology has caught the attention of companies seeking to test its effectiveness in changing behavior.
The bottles light up and buzz and send text and voice messages reminding users of pre-scheduled dosages. Its business model involves having pharmacy companies pay for the bottles.
Josh Stein, the CEO and co-founder, said it’s received a lot of interest from pharmaceutical companies, contract research organizations, and research institutions. “This affirms our view that there’s a large unmet need for this technology,” he said in the statement.
Last year, the StartUp Health company and Blueprint Health graduate collaborated with Weill Cornell Medical College to evaluate the effectiveness of its smart pill bottle for patients taking HIV drugs over a 12-week period. AdhereTech also did a pilot with Walter Reed Medical Center to test its connected pill bottles with patients receiving medications from the hospital’s investigational pharmacy. Sara Salkind, the project coordinator for this study, said it has generated positive results from the pilot and said the medical center is actively exploring more opportunities to partner with the company.
Smart pill bottles are an example of just how creative digital health companies are getting to improve adherence — from pills that know when they are swallowed to apps adopted for wearables.
