MAECON is proud to announce that it has completed a new clinical trial studying the effects of a digital pill bottle to support patients with tuberculosis (TB) with medication adherence.
The standard treatment regimen for drug-susceptible TB takes 6-9 months and requires daily intake of multiple medications under the observation of a healthcare professional. However, this approach increases the cost of treatment exponentially, and presents real challenges in terms of patient wellbeing, with cure rates and outcomes continuing to remain suboptimal. The study comprised of ten hospitalised TB patients who used novel digital adherence technology (DAT), designed and manufactured by Pill Connect to self-administer a solid oral dose drug for 14 days of their TB treatment, with an overall dispense adherence of 99% being reported. This was a first clinical proof-of-concept study that evaluated the combined use of DAT and saliva sampling for TDM among TB patients in a hospital setting, showing that TB patients can use DAT with acceptable reliability.
MAECON director Job van Boven and TB specialist Onno Akkerman, Principle Investigators of the study, commented “The use of the smart pill dispenser provides us with a novel opportunity to support TB patients’ empowerment and self-efficacy, while at the same time closely monitoring intake and optimizing drug dosing. A true example of more personalized TB care! Given the promising findings, we are currently designing a larger follow-up study with the improved pill bottle.”
The University Medical Center Groningen invited us to talk about this new study in the UMCG Research Podcast, click here to listen to the podcast.
The article, published in the European Respiratory Journal can be found here
