The first digital pill will carry a price tag of $1,650 per month and soon be rolled out commercially to the first patients: people with mental illness covered by Medicaid, likely in regions including Florida and Virginia.
The pill, sold by the drug maker Otsuka as Abilify MyCite, is embedded with a sensor that can alert a patient’s physician or caregiver after it’s been swallowed. Approved last November by the Food and Drug Administration for patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, it’s a high-tech upgrade to the antipsychotic drug Abilify, which was first approved 16 years ago and has now gone generic.
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