Drug news
Ingestible Event Marker pill is FDA approved for Digital Health Feedback
The FDA has on 30 July 2012 cleared the ingestible sensor IEM from Proteus Digital Health for marketing as a medical device. The ingestible sensor (formally referred to as the Ingestion Event Marker or IEM) is part of the Proteus digital health feedback system, an integrated, end-to-end personal health management system that is designed to help improve patients' health habits and connections to caregivers. A CE Mark was granted in 2010. Once the ingestible sensor reaches the stomach, it is powered by contact with stomach fluid and communicates a unique signal that determines identity and timing of ingestion. This information is transferred through the user's body tissue to a patch worn on the skin that detects the signal and marks the precise time an ingestible sensor has been taken. Additional physiologic and behavioral metrics collected by the patch include heart rate, body position and activity. The patch relays information to a mobile phone application.