Israeli startup MediSafe Project announced last week that use of its free app has resulted in patients taking their medication on time at a 31 percent higher rate than the World Health Organization's estimated average medication adherence rate of 50 percent.
Launched in November 2012, the MediSafe Project is touted as the first mobile "pillbox app" that cloud syncs users' failure to take medication on time to their friends, family and caretakers. Users of both the Android and iOS versions of their app recorded taking over 100,000 medication doses as directed, according to the announcement.
Research published last May shows that text message reminders significantly improved diabetic patients' adherence to their medications. In the study, published in the journal Clinical Therapeutics, of 580 people, those who received text message reminders better adhered to their oral medication regimen (85 percent) than those who did not (77 percent). Among those who took a chronic oral antidiabetes medication, the percentages were even higher--91 percent vs. 82 percent.Announcement