Bach Seat

Don’t worry about Big Brother, its Big Pharma that gets the latest award for invading your space. Dailywireless.org reports that drug maker Pfizer (PFE) wants to boost the profitability of its cholesterol-lowering Lipitor by calling you to nag remind you to take your script. According to Dailywireless.org if every Lipitor pill prescribed were taken, Pfizer expects that to increase it sales of the cholesterol-lowering drug by an extra $7 billion a year. Pfizer intends to use Vitality GlowCaps to grow its Lipitor business to $17 billion a year.

Vitality GlowCaps, are a wireless, Internet-connected bottle cap, that uses light and sound to alert users and phones home if they forget to take their Lipitor. Vitality and automated communication company Varolii, developed the GlowCap which has an embedded computer chip that communicates via low-frequency RF with a cellular-connected nightlight. The nightlight sends information to Vitality via a GE864-QUAD chip from Telit, a leader in the machine-to-machine (M2M) communications, over AT&T’s (T) GSM/GPRS network.

If a user misses a dose, an alarm will sound that gradually escalates “from a three-note arpeggio to an 11-note arpeggio,” Vitality President Josh Wachman told MobiHealthNews.  The GlowCap can also flash a light, play a ringtone, send text messages or e-mails and even call the user’s mobile phone to remind them to take their drugs.  The Dailywireless.org says that if the GlowCap remains unopened long enough, a patient will receive an automated call that asks a series of questions on why they didn’t take their drugs. GlowCaps also include a button that starts a call between the user’s phone and their pharmacy when the medication needs to be refilled.

Vitality CEO David Rose told MobiHealthNews that the company was developing an iPad app for its pharma brand managers to help them track in real-time the success of their GlowCap programs. As part of the deal, Vitality gave away iPads to any GlowCap customer, which Mr. Rose said included pharmacos and insurers, that distributes more than 10,000 GlowCaps to its customers. “With the secure app, they can see adherence patters as they emerge, everyday, in realtime. For example they can see the total value higher adherence creates for the brand. The resulting cost-savings, in the case of insurers. Even how adherence varies by demographic slice or geography (media market),” Mr. Rose wrote.

The AT&T cellular-enabled GlowCaps which can be bought on Amazon.com for $99, comes with the night-light that connects wirelessly to AT&T’s cellular network, a bottle cap and a six-month subscription to the service. After six months, subscriptions cost $15 a month.

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Talk about convergence! Mobile-to-Mobile + Connected health-care +Data protection. Any wonder why we need IPv6?

According to RCR Wireless, “Connected Healthcare” is a term used to describe a model for healthcare delivery that uses technology to give healthcare remotely. Connected healthcare is a sub-set of all Machine to Machine (M2M) devices which are expected to increase by 36 percent this year. Utilities, healthcare and securities industries will lead the charge to a total of 2.1 billion “connected M2M devices” by 2020, according to research from Analsys Mason.

What do you think?

Does the idea of getting harassed by your own script sit well with you?

Are you comfortable with Pfizer data-mining your day-to-day health-care activities?