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Pharmaceutical group Novartis has made a $24 million (£14.75m) investment into the pioneering of hi-tech pills featuring embedded ingestible sensors.
Novartis invested in Proteus Biomedical over the smart pills, which are part of the search to improve drug delivery in novel and profitable ways.
Proteus’ pills transmit information to a microelectronic receiver worn either as a skin patch or implanted under the skin.
Novartis plans at first to apply Proteus’ pharmaceutical technology to its organ transplantation drug business. It has rights to apply it later in cancer and cardiovascular applications.
The new drug technology is currently being used in clinical trials with heart failure patients. The sizeable investment in the project is made up of cash and equity up front. The funding forms an exclusive worldwide licensing and collaboration bond between the two companies.
Copyright Press Association 2010
US Food and Drug Administration
