The first digital pill recently got US Food and Drug Administration approval which has an embedded sensor to track patients and know if they are taking their medication properly.
The drug -- Abilify MyCite, developed by Otsuka Pharmaceutical will help to keep a track of patients, and whether they are taking the prescribed medicines in time or not. The information can be shared with up to four caregivers and doctors, with the consent of the patient.
In 2014, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported that around 50 percent of patients on prescription medications do not take their drugs as directed.
And particularly, in case of psychiatric medicine, taking medications between 70 and 80 percent of the time is seen as 'good adherence' to a treatment plan, the Daily Mail reported.
Dr Paul Appelbaum of Columbia University said: "There are major problems with patient adherence to prescribed medications for disorders like bipolar and schizophrenia"
Dr Appelbaum explained that patients often struggle to keep up with daily dosages and missing doses of medications or even consistently irregular adherence can have catastrophic impacts in psychotic disorders.
He further says that this new drug 'looks like a tempting target for the first trial of this new technology.'
The FDA said in a statement on Monday that the digital pill 'works by sending a message from the pill's sensor to a wearable patch'.
"Being able to track ingestion of medications prescribed for illness may be useful for some patients," said Dr Mitchell Mathis, director of the division of Psychiatry Products in the FDA's Centre for Drug Evaluation and Research.
"The FDA supports the development and use of new technology in prescription drugs and is committed to working with companies to understand how technology might benefit patients and prescribers," Mitchell Mathis added.
