Making the connection: A solution to help medication adherence

Ian Bolland spoke to Mehfuz Dasu Patel, senior development manager at Issa Group about the company’s medication adherence solution Biodose Connect.

Issa Group's Pharmalogic is a community pharmacy first and foremost which undertakes the normal duties of packing and dispatching medication to its patients. It came across the original Biodose tray that allowed the company to organise and dispense the medication. Issa Group bought Biodose after its original parent company went into liquidation at the end of 2018 and has developed the monitored dosage try into a device that can improve medication adherence further along with Vaica, who manufacture a range of adherence platforms.

Biodose Connect comes with a removable tray that is split into 28 pods – which can each hold up to 10ml of liquid medication or seven solid dose medications. The device stays with the patient while the empty trays are refilled with medicines by a nominated pharmacy – in this case Pharmalogic.

Dasu Patel explains the initial product was designed for care homes, but had subsequently been offered to care agencies, local authorities and people with complex medication regimes

Commenting on the initial product and what it has grown into, he said: “What this does is make sense of a complex medication regime to increase adherence first and foremost, and make sure the patient is taking the right medication at the right dose at the right time.

“We put it into a patient’s home so it’s got this device which has sensors including a light sensor and a movement sensor. It’s got a GSM chip in it as well which can send out messages via any sort of GSM network.”

The connected device isn’t used in a care home. The USP of the Biodose Connect device is that it’s for those who aren’t in the care of others and need help with medication adherence in their own home rather than the trays without the connected element which are developed for use in a care setting. In a home environment, the connected device can pair up to a mobile phone or web portal.

“We don’t see this as a closed system, we see this as an open system, and we see ourselves as a pharmacy that packs these trays and we’ve got a device that manages that tray. You can have the notifications sent to whoever you want, however you want, because it all relies on an SMS system. It can be easily configured to ping off to another system and sends it through.”

The tray is configured to a specific time. When a patient removes a pod, it is then logged through its sensors and can inform patients of when they have removed the incorrect pod. There is also scope for patients to delay the time they want to take their medication, but louder alert prompts can sound if they have missed their time.

The device’s tailored programme of alerts can include flashing lights under each pod, customisable alarms and voice messages to indicate when a dosage is due.

The combination, along with the pairing with a web portal, allows the patient themselves, their carer or family member to keep track of their medications – and can prevent care services from stretching their resources.

“A lot of people who are living in their own home, they only need this for taking their medication.

“It can provide a feedback loop between the patients and their family members. Rather than calling a family member or a carer you’ve got this telling you up to four times a day that the patient is ok.”

Efficiencies appear to be one element which allows Biodose Connect to appeal to local authorities, following a study Biodose commissioned through the University of Nottingham, which found that a quarter to a third of patients get put into care because someone needs to make sure they are taking their medication.

“At the moment the only way around that is for a home care agency or a local authority to patient’s home four times a day,” Dasu Patel explains. “What we’re saying to local authorities is with this device you can put it into a patient’s home and monitor them taking their medications remotely.

“Rather than spending five minutes with a patient four times a day, you can use this device and send your carer round once a day – who can spend half an hour with the patient. Let them interact with the patient and help them with things they need help with.”