“Smart Pill-Bottle” Significantly Improves Medication Adherence

Recent research presented at the 2016 NASP Annual Meeting showed that use of a “smart pill-bottle,” which provides additional reminders and instructions to patients, significantly increased medication adherence. 

“According to the Network for Excellence in Health Innovation, the United States spends $750 billion each year on wasted health care,” Joseph A Mauro, PharmD, pharmacy resident at Avella Specialty Pharmacy, and colleagues said in their presentation. “Poor medication adherence alone accounts for $290 billion of the annual wasted health care spend. In many disease states, such as oncology, newer, targeted oral therapy has allowed patients to take their medication at home. However, medication non‐adherence with these complex regimens can lead to ineffective treatments, hospitalizations, and unnecessary disease progression.”

According to the presentation, “smart pill-bottles” are medication bottles with features such as reminder ringtones, lights, noise alerts, and text messaging capabilities.  

In order to evaluate the effect of using a “smart pill-bottle,” the researchers studied 40 patients with multiple myeloma who were newly prescribed lenalidomide oral therapy. They conducted a retrospective, single-blind, controlled analysis by randomizing study patients into two groups, a control group who received a standard medication bottle and an intervention group who received the “smart pill-bottle.” Results were recorded and compared via real-time data taken directly from the pill-bottle usages. 

Dr Mauro and colleagues found that adherence was significantly greater among patients with the “smart pill-bottle.” Study participants in the intervention group had a median adherence rating of 100%, while patients in the control group had a median adherence rating of 90.75% (P = .001).

“Further investigation with longer use of the device is needed to determine if ‘smart pill‐bottles’ lead to improved medication persistence and overall healthcare outcomes,” Dr Mauro and colleagues concluded.  — David Costill