Digital health startup Abiogenix has a solution for patient nonadherence when it comes to forgetting to take their pills.
The company has developed an intelligent pillbox that not only flashes green to remind patients to take their medication, it also texts people close to them to let a caregiver or relative know that there has been a missed dose.
The company that has developed the uBox is now seeking $1.6 million over two years that will help them develop the next generation of the product and do more studies.
Behavioral Health, Interoperability and eConsent: Meeting the Demands of CMS Final Rule Compliance
In a webinar on April 16 at 1pm ET, Aneesh Chopra will moderate a discussion with executives from DocuSign, Velatura, and behavioral health providers on eConsent, health information exchange and compliance with the CMS Final Rule on interoperability.
“Missing medications is the leading cause of 30-day readmissions,” co-founder Goutam Reddy told an audience gathered at the Mid America Healthcare Venture Forum in Minneapolis. “uBox closes the loop on medication adherence.”
The pillbox comes with a programmable lock that prevents children from accessing the medication.
The device is currently intended for patients who take one or two medications a day. Patients can choose who can be in their “care circle,” and one hour after a patient has missed a dosage, a text goes out to these people who can then contact the patient to remind him to take his medication.
Even doctors can opt-in to get texts or emails such that they are aware of which patients within their practice need more attention in terms of getting them to adhere to their therapy, Reddy said.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
In the past, the company’s product was used to test adherence on 200 patients suffering from tuberculosis in India.
[Image of man with pill bottles from BigStock]