Proteus debuts digital cancer drug

Proteus Digital Health said today that the first cancer patients were treated using its digital oncology therapy, which combines oral chemotherapy with an ingestible sensor.

Patients with stage 3 and 4 colorectal cancer at the University of Minnesota Health and Fairview Health Services were treated with digital capecitabine. The Redwood City, Calif.-based company plans to use its sensor-drug combination to record and share data such as the time and dose of chemotherapy that a patient ingests.

This data, with the patient’s consent, can be shared with the patient’s physician, caretaker or pharmacist, according to Proteus.

The company also announced today that it launched a digital oral oncolytic medication registry to gather real-world data from cancer patients using digital medicines.

“Currently, providers make decisions about oral chemotherapy based on patients’ best knowledge of their medication taking,” co-founder & CEO Andrew Thompson said in prepared remarks. “For the first time, digital oncology medicines give providers and caregivers new insights and ability to engage with more specific information in the remote care of colorectal cancer patients. Based on our data around the use of digital medicines in other treatment areas, we believe this will enable oncology patients to stay on their therapy longer, avoid hospital admissions, and have better response to therapy overall.”

The first pill to be embedded with a sensor was approved by the FDA in November of 2017. Abilify MyCite, developed by Otsuka Pharmaceutical (TYO:4578) and Proteus, is designed to treat schizophrenia, manic and mixed episodes linked with bipolar I disorder and depression in adults.

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