Smart drugs: Where IoT meets healthcare, a market snapshot

There are enormous opportunities for the expansion of the industrial internet in the healthcare industry. Executives and various companies are realizing this and are embracing it fully. They realize that the industrial internet will allow medical professionals to make more informed decisions, thus having a positive impact on patients. The potential of the industrial internet to also cut costs for the healthcare industry is an obvious driving force. The expected growth potential was depicted in a recent report by MarketResearch.com, which stated that big data and the healthcare Internet of Things will expand at a 15.1 percent compound annual growth rate to hit $117 billion by 2020.

This market snapshot provides three products that are changing how doctors monitor patients and how patients monitor themselves.

Proteus Discover is changing the way doctors and patients gain information to deal with complex and chronic conditions. Using a sensor-embedded pill and a patch placed on your body, Proteus Discover hope to provide better insights for the Patient as well as the healthcare professionals involved. Thus enabling them to provide specific treatment that suits the Patient.

Together with the regular medication prescribed, the healthcare professional will also prescribe sensor-enabled pills. These pills contain an ingestible sensor the size of a grain of rice. Once the sensor-enabled pill reaches your stomach, it sends a signal to the Patch that the patient is wearing on their body. The sensor-containing Patch will monitor when the patient swallows each sensor-enabled pill, as well as the rest and activity patterns of the patient. The Patch will record all the information and relay it to both the patient and the healthcare professional. Patients can then use the Discover app to keep track of the medication, and set up medication reminders. Patients can also monitor their activity levels including steps they have taken, rest levels, heart rate, blood pressure and weight. Healthcare professionals can  use the Discover portal to monitor the patient and provide the best treatment plan for the patient.

Getting patients to stick to their prescribed medication regimen can be a huge problem for healthcare professionals.