Fifty years ago, the sci-fi movie "Magic Journey" showed us how medical workers can use micro-scale technology to save lives. In the movie, five doctors were reduced to a few millionths and placed in film, injected into the scientist for vascular surgery.
This work seems whimsical, but once again tells us how important the imagination is for human medicine and even the advancement of science and technology. Because today, we already have smart pill technology and implemented some of the scenes in the movie.
Digitization and intelligence of drugs are one of the goals of modern medical technology. Benefiting from the development of the Internet of Things and sensor technology, digital pills have become a reality and are changing the traditional medical testing, drug delivery and health management models.
According to Grand View Research, the global smart pill market is about $780 million in 2016. It is expected that by 2025, this market will quadruple to $3 billion. The ever-increasing demand for minimally invasive surgery, as well as better patient monitoring capabilities, and the development of micro-sensor technology are the main drivers of growth in this market.
Three billion dollars is a small market for the medical market, but it does not hinder the advance layout of prophetic companies in this field. It is foreseeable that in the near future, we will see various smart drugs and digital drugs appear in the market and bring more gospel to human health.
Here are a few representative smart digital drug companies. It mainly includes: medication monitoring and drug delivery system, health monitoring system, and capsule endoscope system.
I. Medication monitoring and drug delivery system
Not taking medication as prescribed is one of the reasons for global drug abuse. In the United States, “uncontrolled health conditions, over-hospitalization, emergency and general outpatient services†are more than $290 billion per year due to unruly medications.
1. Proteus Digital Health
Founded in 2001, Silicon Valley company Proteus Digital Health has developed a swallowable digital pill system, Helius, which consists of intelligent oral pills, smart patches and apps. It is dedicated to solving most adulthoods. The problem of people not taking medication according to their doctor's advice.
The capsule product contains a sensor that has no battery and instead uses your body to charge itself. The company is currently developing digital drugs for patients with type 2 diabetes.
Proteus has grown into a unicorn company in 2014, and its world's first anti-psychotic digital drug, Abilify MyCite, has recently become the world's first digital drug approved by the US FDA.
The company has accumulated a total of $422 million in financing, including well-known investment institutions such as Oracle, Novartis and Carlyle Group.
2. Medmetrics
As a former rival of Proteus, the Dutch company Medmetrics has developed IntelliCap, a drug that can control and dispense dose over time? . The capsule includes a microprocessor controlled delivery system that meets a variety of drug delivery requirements.
However, Medmetrics does not have the same good luck as Proteus, and the company has filed a bankruptcy application. According to reports, Evonik, one of the world's largest specialty chemicals companies, may have acquired Intellicap ownership.
3. Microchips Biotech
Microchips Biotech, a US biotechnology company, is developing commercial implantable biochips that can be stored for months or years, hundreds of treatment doses, and given at precise times, through a separate sealed drug delivery device. . The device allows for simple implantation and removal in the doctor's office.
The company has accumulated $57.8 million in financing, including Novartis Ventures, Bill and Melinda Gates, and Israeli pharmaceutical giant Teva Pharmaceutical, the world's largest producer of genetic medicine.
Judging from the company's website, the company has not released a press release since it announced its cooperation with Israeli pharmaceutical giant Teva in June 2015. The specific development status is not as deep.
Second, capsule endoscope system
Endoscopy is undoubtedly one of the most painful tests in medical examinations. Therefore, the swallowable capsule endoscope has become the research and development target of many medical technology companies.
4. Given Imaging
Israeli startup Given Imaging is the leading developer of capsule endoscopes, which was acquired by Covidien in 2013 for $860 million. In 2014, US medical device manufacturer Medtronic acquired Covidien for $43 billion, which included Given Imaging.
Medtronic developed a product called PillCam COLON Capsule to replace invasive inspections and to work on the extended application of the capsule.
5. CapsoVision
The US Capsule Colonoscopy Platform CapsoVision was founded in 2005, and its smart pill CapsoCam Plus can provide 360? HD panorama to help clinicians find small bowel abnormalities. At present, it has accumulated a total of 32.8 million US dollars.
According to the company, “the company is currently providing services in more than 70 countries through distribution partnersâ€. In the United States, CapsoCam Plus can only be used in adults, but at the end of last year, it received the European Qualification Mark for children 2 years of age and older.
6. Olympus
In the capsule endoscope market, traditional camera electronics manufacturers also have a strong competitive role. Olympus has launched its own endocapsule EC-10 system for capsule endoscopy, which allows clinicians to see 10% more mucosa than other capsule endoscopy systems and features a 160-degree wide-angle field of view.
The system features three-dimensional tracking and can provide a map of the position of the capsule in the small intestine and the clinical image. The device also has a read mode that overlays the same image and the image containing the fragments and bubbles. It can also perform operations to quickly move past images when the capsule is still to reduce playback time.
7. IntroMedic
In the capsule endoscope market, startups in Asia are also working hard to develop their own technologies and platforms.
Korean company IntroMedic launches capsule endoscope MiroCam? The capsule endoscope has a diameter of 10.8 mm and a length of 24.5 mm, and contains a miniature camera, a flash lamp, a transmission device, runs along the digestive direction with the movement of the gastrointestinal muscles, takes an image, and transmits the image to the transmission. The device is inspected to not only examine the small intestine that is difficult to observe, but also the entire digestive organ.
In addition, the capsule has a lifespan of up to 11 hours, allowing for images of the large intestine, and patients with capsule endoscopes maintain normal activity and life.
8. Chongqing Jinshan Technology
Chongqing Jinshan Technology Co., Ltd. is a digital medical equipment company with capsule endoscopes, capsule robots, pH capsules and other products. It is also the most typical digital drug company in China. The company's products and solutions have been applied in 70 countries and regions such as Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia, Canada, and India.
The company occupies the majority of the domestic capsule endoscope market share. The OMOM smart capsule developed by it is a new type of intelligent diagnostic equipment for non-invasive and painless digestive tract diseases. It is used to diagnose digestive diseases and is the first in its class. A product that enables two-way communication (light adjustments can be made while the capsule is running).
Third, the health monitoring system
In addition to daily medication and gastrointestinal examinations, monitoring of physical indicators is also the application of digital medicine. This is also an application for deeper health wearables.
9. HQ Inc.
American technology company HQ Inc. Introduced the ingestible body temperature sensor CorTemp? The body temperature is monitored through the digestive tract.
This product is mainly used for athletes, firefighters and other people who are struggling in extreme environments.
Fourth, the bright future
As the price of sensors and related materials continues to decrease, the amount of digital drugs that can be swallowed is getting closer to market. Smaller, self-charging, and longer staying time will be the development direction of digital medicine. In the future, countless sensors roam in our bodies, real-time monitoring of various indicators in the body, and timely treatment.
In essence, digital pills are the deep application of Internet of Things technology in the medical field, and the fusion of atoms and bits in the human body has opened up a new market for precision medicine .
Digital pills are not simple pills, but are expected to be a new therapeutic, rehabilitation and health monitoring platform , a data platform that connects patients, medical institutions and insurance institutions. The greatest value of this platform lies in “predictability†and “controllabilityâ€, which can improve human medical care while bringing more convenience, less pain and lower cost.
However, from the current point of view, capsule endoscopy technology is relatively more mature in the type of digital pills, and there is still a long way to go before drug administration monitoring and drug delivery systems.
Author: Zhang Ke
Blood System:
Blood system is also called circulatory system.
For the treatment of diseases of the circulatory system:
According to the American Heart Association, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. Because of its vastness and critical nature, it is one of the systems of the body most prone to disease.
Pin It Credit: Blood pressure check photo via ShutterstockView full size image
One of the most common diseases of the circulatory system is arteriosclerosis, in which the fatty deposits in the arteries causes the walls to stiffen and thicken the walls. According to the Mayo Clinic, the causes are a buildup of fat, cholesterol and other material in the artery walls. This can restrict blood flow or in severe cases stop it all together, resulting in a heart attack or stroke.
Stroke involves blockage of the blood vessels to the brain and is another major condition of the circulatory system, according to Mitchell Weinberg of the North Shore-LIJ Health System. [Risk factors include smoking, diabetes and high cholesterol," he noted.
Another circulatory disease, hypertension - commonly called high blood pressure - causes the heart to work harder and can lead to such complications as a heart attack, a stroke, or kidney failure, the NLM noted.
An aortic aneurysm occurs when the aorta is damaged and starts to bulge or eventually tear, which can cause severe internal bleeding. This weakness can be present at birth or the result of atherosclerosis, obesity, high blood pressure or a combination of these conditions, according to Weinberg.
Peripheral arterial disease (also known as PAD) typically involves areas of narrowing or blockage within an artery, according to Jay Radhakrishnan, an interventional radiologist in Houston, Texas. In addition, chronic venous insufficiency (also known as CVI) involves areas reflux (or backward flow) within the superficial veins of the lower extremities.
PAD is diagnosed with noninvasive testing including ultrasound, CT scan, and/or MRI. Ultrasound is the least expensive of these methods, but also gives the least amount of detail, as CT and MRI show a much higher degree of anatomic detail when identifying areas of narrowing/blockage within an artery. CVI is diagnosed with ultrasound as the venous reflux can be measured accurately by ultrasound, which ultimately guides treatment.
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