Two articles came my way this morning, both of which I would recommend.
The first is an extract, in last Friday’s Guardian, from Ben Goldacre’s about-to-be-published new book, Bad Pharma. The tale he tells is not new (dodgy practices by drug companies who fail to publish unsuccessful trials of their drugs, ‘massage’ trial participants to ensure that the trials are successful, conceal real results not only from doctors but from regulators) but it is spelt out in truly scary detail.
The other story appears on Reuters – and is not new either… It is reporting, very positively, on new ‘tracker’ pills/drugs that can be ’embedded with tiny indigestible chips that keep track of whether or not a patient is taking their medicine’. Whatever issues Ben Goldacre may raise over drug companies pushing their wares, there is no doubt that some drugs are life saving – and that not all patients are very good at remembering to take them, so this is, theoretically, a really helpful device.
This little sensor is linked to a skin patch worn on the patient’s body which sends the relevant information to a bluetooth enabled computer or phone which can either remind the patient to take their medication or send the information to his/her care giver or medic. The sensor is activated by stomach juices which complete a circuit between coatings of copper and magnesium on either side, generating a tiny electric voltage for a few minutes.
Yes, only a tiny electric voltage – but on this occasion embedded right inside the body. How high the risk that apart from telling your doctor whether or not you have taken your aspirin, it will also disrupt the delicate (and tiny) electrical conversation already going on between the cells of your body?