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Biotech Science

Canadians Create Intelligent Medicine 58

Posted by timothy from the please-don't-tell-the-hemlock-society dept.
RunAmuk writes "Engineers at the University of Calgary have developed a pill that, once swallowed, will determine how healthy or ill the patient is, and will release just the right amount of medicine accordingly, according to an article on Wired. As the sensors used in these pills grow more advanced are doctors going to be come obsolete except for real physical injuries? Of course, anyone who has been to a doctor in Canada understands that we need medicine that can do the diagnosis for them."
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Canadians Create Intelligent Medicine More

Canadians Create Intelligent Medicine

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  • Just in case it gets /.ed :D (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Engineers at the University of Calgary have developed a pill that, once swallowed, will determine how healthy or ill the patient is, and will release just the right amount of medicine accordingly.

    Dubbed the Intelligent Pill or iPill, the new drug-delivery system packs a micropump and sensors that monitor the body's temperature and pH balance into one pill. If the body's temperature and pH reach certain levels, the iPill responds by pumping out more or less of its drug payload. It could be used to treat man
  • As the sensors used in these pills grow more advanced are doctors going to be come obsolete except for real physical injuries?

    No.

  • "i-Pill will cure thee of thy illness" (Score:5, Funny)

    by coolmacdude ( 640605 ) on Tuesday July 29, 2003 @07:07PM (#6566067) Homepage Journal
    Okay pill, I think I have a pain in my chest, come cure me.

    No wait, scratch that. It could be a heart attack.

    Maybe I should go to the doctor after all.

  • Ignorant American (Score:2, Offtopic)

    by MBCook ( 132727 )
    "...Of course, anyone who has been to a doctor in Canada understands that we need medicine that can do the diagnosis for them."

    Would someone please explain this comment to me? I thought Canada was supposed to have a very good health care system. It's socialized, isn't it? I would think that not having to deal with all the HMO crap would lead to more time with paitents and hence better care?

    PS: as bad as some people say things are, I'd still rather have our current system than socialist medicine here in th

    • Well from my experience with a friend who has Lupus for about the 6th year now, the doctors are unwilling to diagnose her for lack of knowledge about it and therefore they have tried about ten different meds on her, all anti-inflammatory drugs (which is good, but they are still experimenting). because of that she lost her medical plan from work because they need diagnosis as proof of illness. She eventually got her coverage back, but its not a normal thing. And yes we need private coverage here for medicati
    • <BiasDisclaimer> Born in Canada (sucks to be me), and having lived there and the U.S., I find Canadians a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers, by comparison to Americans, who, at worst, are paranoid, opinionated, blowhards. I'll take the Americans any day -- no one ever died from an opinion.</BiasDisclaimer>

      Socialized medicine in Canada works like this:

      1. You pay (via your taxes).
      2. You are promised health care.
      3. You get sick.
      4. You wait (25% of all cardiac patients referred to a spe

      • Besides which, all the best Canadian doctors go to the US. That is the most important and never mentioned bit about Canadian "health care". Basically, Canadian tax payes are paying not only for their own health care, but in addition are running the equivalent of one Canadian university SOLELY to staff american hospitals. Canada does NOT have better health care or more accessable health care than the US.

      • Re:Ignorant American (Score:3, Informative)

        by Tuzanor ( 125152 )

        You seem a little harsh, and I have a hard time believing you're canadian. I've never had any of the above mentioned problems, and neither did my friend when he got lukemia. I have never heard of this surgeon quota, and a quick google search didn't find me anything.

        There are some problems, however. The salaries do need to go up for doctors and surgeons., as a lot (but certainly not all) do head to the US. Its not an astronomical number as you imply, though.

        Most life threatening surgeries/treatments ar

        • You seem a little harsh, and I have a hard time believing you're canadian.

          Born 1961, Montreal, Quebec.

          I've never had any of the above mentioned problems, and neither did my friend when he got lukemia.

          Then you and your friend have been extremely lucky. Know this: the funds for that care, in some small part, came from an individual who never needed more than a routine doctor's visit, until he needed repair of an abdominal aortic aneurysm. Left untreated this is a death sentence. The best surgeons in th

      • aha, i spoke to soon. I checked out your website and see that you're from quebec. My apologies for that mess you're from. ALways a problem, the french, hopefully things will get better with the new government there.
        • I checked out your website and see that you're from quebec. My apologies for that mess you're from. ALways a problem, the french, hopefully things will get better with the new government there.

          While my experience in Quebec shaped my hatred of fascism (rampant there), and libertarian attitude, an examination of federal Canadian policy reveals much of the same. I now live in Ontario, and, except for separatist angst, find it far worse than when I left Quebec in 2003, as far as federal policies are concerned

    • Re:Ignorant American (Score:5, Interesting)

      by optikSmoke ( 264261 ) on Tuesday July 29, 2003 @07:44PM (#6566362)
      Here's something I've always wondered about: "up here" (heh) we call it public healthcare, I think I've only ever heard it called "socialized medicine" in the States. It's like the easiest way for the companies in the States to keep their massize industry is to slap a communist implication on it and let the public beat up anyone who voices their opinion for it.

      BTW, this is more of a general observation on US politics than a specific comment on healthcare.... it seems to happen in everything. Oh well, some misconceptions die hard.
      • Interesting, I've never thought of that. That said, it seems to fit. Just look up "socialism" on Dictionary.com [dictionary.com] and you'll find this (somewhere down on the page):

        socialism

        n 1: a political theory advocating state ownership of industry 2: an economic system based on state ownership of capital [syn: socialist economy] [ant: capitalism]

        Sounds like you have a socialist medical system to me. Maybe they don't call it that in Canada because they don't want you to realize it's Communism? I know Canada isn't co

        • Re:Ignorant American (Score:2, Informative)

          by pkhuong ( 686673 )
          Communism \Com"mu*nism\, n. [F. communisme, fr. commun common.]
          A scheme of equalizing the social conditions of life;
          specifically, a scheme which contemplates the abolition of
          inequalities in the possession of property, as by
          distributing all wealth equally to all, or by holding all
          wealth in common for the equal use and advantage of all.

          != socialism.
          • Thank you, pkhuong for clearing that up. People hear socialism and they think communism.

            Dictionary.com actually goes a bit further in the definition of socialism [reference.com]:

            "The word, however, is used with a great variety of meaning, . . . even by economists and learned critics. The general tendency is to regard as socialistic any interference undertaken by society on behalf of the poor, . . . radical social reform which disturbs the present system of private property . . . The tendency of the present socialism is
      • From Merriam Webster:

        Main Entry: socialized medicine
        Function: noun
        Date: 1937
        : medical and hospital services for the members of a class or population administered by an organized group (as a state agency) and paid for from funds obtained usually by assessments, philanthropy, or taxation

        Sound familiar?

    • Re:Ignorant American (Score:3, Informative)

      by Glytch ( 4881 )
      That was merely intended to be a cheap shot from a rabidly jingoistic twit who's been taught by CNN to hate all government programs not invented in the good ol' US of A and desperately wants to move down there. Pay it no mind.

      Here's a quick lesson to those unfamiliar with Medicare up here: the government doesn't run the entire health care system like in Soviet-style communism, they merely fund universal insurance. That's the incomplete short version, but that's the basics.

      Not to be confused with the US go
      • they merely fund universal insurance.

        There is more to it than that! The hospitals are run by the governments too and private clinics are strictly limited in the procedures they may perform. Note the horror that Eastern Canada greeted the BC plan to run private MRI clinics and the Alberta plan to let clinics do surgeries requiring overnight stays. "Medicare" is more than the name of the "insurance" program; it is the federal government's mechanism for userping much of a provincial responsibility: healt

    • Re:Ignorant American (Score:5, Interesting)

      by alphaseven ( 540122 ) on Tuesday July 29, 2003 @08:27PM (#6566703)
      Would someone please explain this comment to me? I thought Canada was supposed to have a very good health care system. It's socialized, isn't it? I would think that not having to deal with all the HMO crap would lead to more time with paitents and hence better care?

      Canada does have a very good health care system. Basically, Canadians have longer lifespans and lower infant mortality than Americans, while Canada spends far less per capita on health care.

      Lots of people will give you anecdotal stories about Canadians being denied health care and long waiting lists and incompetent doctors, but stuff like that happens under HMOs too. Some people call it socialized medicine, though I think it's also called a 'single payer' system, where the government is acting as your insurer.

      • Governments in Canada run hospitals, in addition to the 'insurance' system. Doctors are permitted to operate their own clinics, but within severely limited scopes [thestar.com]. And the access to operating rooms is rationed to the doctors [globeandmail.com].

        Yes, Canadians pay less on health care than Americans. But ours is the 2nd most expensive system in the world. Australia, Sweden and much of northern Europe operates "as good or better" systems much cheaper AND most allow people some level of choice in health care (like Australia'

      • Re:Ignorant American (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Deflagro ( 187160 )
        I agree. HMOs suck and it's so very complicated. You have to make sure the doctor is in your network, and in your area, etc. I had to be referred twice and see 3 doctors before i could get minor surgery on my toe. Oh yea, as i was writhing in pain, it took a month to get looked at. Mind you i am paying 400$ a month for this "Service". Medications are covered at a percentage if it's generic, otherwise you pay. Most things get denied by HMOs as they have full say as to what they cover, etc... I'm sorry,

    • Re:Ignorant American (Score:2, Interesting)

      by 2TecTom ( 311314 )
      As a dual American / Canadian citizen, no, I'm afraid I can't. I've noticed little or no difference between any individual doctors whether they be north or south of some largely irrelevant political boundary. As to your preference for the current system, well, I can only suppose you spoke out of affluence or ignorance. The overly affluent medical industry clearly and unethically exploits the disadvantaged, elderly and impoverished. Imho, doctors should care about patients, not profits. If they want to get r
    • We have a fairly good healthcare system, yes. "Socialized" is correct though, as it's supposed to bring all people, rich or poor, to the same level so they can receive equal treatment.

      As for wait times: yes, the wait times to see a doctor are still high. The problem that you'll hear about is that the government(s) want to more or less outlaw private health care because giving your business to a private doctor takes the raison d'etre away from the public system (as well as resources, i.e. much-needed doc

  • Greg Bear had the 'therapied population' in some of his novels. It sounded like medication systems like this, only implanted rather than swallowed. Continuous lower dosages seems IMHO to be the way to go, rather than seesawing beteen approaching-ineffective and approaching-lethal the way periodic medications do. (I know they don't approach lethal that closely, and that some medications just plain build up over time, and don't really seesaw.)

    In the novels, they focused more on psychoactive drugs to control

  • I for one.. (Score:3, Funny)

    by Ryan Stortz ( 598060 ) <ryan0rz@gLISPmail.com minus language> on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @12:32AM (#6568144)
    I for one welcome our new Canadian Overlords. Aboot time.

  • I dunno aboot you (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    but I am not going to trust a smart pill made by folks who think that back bacon and lager are the food pyramid.
  • `Ozzy & Drix`, now playing in your lower intestine. :-)
  • Where did they get the 10 cents price figure? This does not make sense either from the standpoint of the industry that will use the device or the industry that will make the device. Nothing related to healthcare is ever 10 cents -- FDA regs on manufacturing, the amortized cost of approvals, and sterile packaging all conspire to add cost. Moreover, the device must carry and medicine cabinet's worth of drugs, with each drug adding to the cost of the device. Even extremely simple ICs have a hard time getti
    • Funny Thing about Canada
      One strange thing that happens here is when medical devices and drugs are approved, the government sets the cost. The manafacturer is asked what it would like to charge, and has to support its price with R&D info and production costs( and profit). Despite what the company may like, the federal government will set a price that balances the companys costs (and profit) with availiability and price to consumers.

      As result of this system, many drugs approved both in Canada and the USA

  • Why Supercaps? (Score:1, Insightful)

    by G4from128k ( 686170 )
    Supercapacitors are terribly inferior in energy density to chemical batteries because they rely on the potential energy stored in separated electrical charges instead of the energy in atomic chemical bonds. A 1 Farad supercap only stores 0.28 mAh (assuming a 1V swing). A lithium battery of similar size can store 190 mAh.

    Lithium cell(s) would be a better energy storage mechanism and would have the added advantage of being able to cure schizophrenia. I can only assume they chose supercaps so that the en
    • The comment was made directly to a question posed in the Article: The system is powered by supercapacitors -- layers of metal that store up to four hours of power. .....
      ....
      Badawy says the tests have so far been 100 percent reliable, but the iPill has some kinks that need to be ironed out before it would be fit for human consumption. One remaining issue is the power source.

      "We are looking at ways to prolong the working time, and this is one of our biggest problems. We are looking for an alternative p
  • Wow, at first I thought this was a Neufi joke, but then I realized you were serious. I hope it might work on George Bush. But then, where would one begin to fix that dud?
    • But serious, I find this a great invention! And I truly believe that this wil advance; the pill will get smaller and better in time. To me this is another step towards the micro-robot technology, where one can inject micro-robots that can fix you from the inside..)

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