Teen’s Pill-Tracking Device Attracts Interest From CVS Pharmacy

High faculty scholar Archishma Marrapu has made vital strides within the discipline of biomedical engineering. Her want to make use of her technical expertise to assist others led her to develop low-cost improvements together with an automatic pill-tracking machine that reminds sufferers to take their drugs. Her Project Pill Tracker has caught the eye of main pharmaceutical corporations together with CVS, a big U.S. pharmacy chain.

Marrapu, a scholar on the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, in Alexandria, Va., got here up with the concept final summer time after seeing her grandfather wrestle to recollect to take life-saving drugs at particular occasions every day. She got down to create a tool that might assist him and tens of millions of different folks handle their drugs successfully. Her 3D-printed prescription bottles are outfitted with ultrasonic sensors, which maintain observe of the drugs distributed. The accompanying cellular app is programmed with a bunch of options together with AI sample evaluation to detect skipped doses and misuse, in addition to ChatGPT to offer data to customers, resembling methods to mitigate uncomfortable side effects.

By switching to Marrapu’s tracker from conventional prescription bottles, pharmacies may enhance medicine adherence, stopping intensified medical situations and lowering the variety of deaths—presently about 125,000 yearly—because of forgetting to take a prescribed drug or misusing it, in response to the World Health Organization.

Marrapu introduced a poster on her invention at this 12 months’s IEEE Integrated STEM Education Conference at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory, in Laurel, Md. She acquired the IEEE Technical Excellence Award.

“I want to be a changemaker in society and make a meaningful difference in people’s lives,” she says. “I firmly believe that by combining the power of health care and technology, we can address some of the most pressing challenges faced by individuals and communities worldwide.”

Disrupting the high-priced biomedical machine market

Before creating her automated pill-tracking instrument, Marrapu carried out market analysis. She discovered that related gadgets had been costly, some charging a excessive month-to-month subscription plan of virtually US $100—which places them out of attain for many individuals.

“I set out to create something everyone could use regardless of socioeconomic background,” she says. “Health care has so many challenges that can be solved using simple, inexpensive technology. Why can’t we make biomedical devices that are both affordable and functional?”

Similar instruments additionally don’t account for human errors resembling forgetting to take a tablet on time or ingesting too many.

After a number of iterations, Marrapu landed on a design much like the prescription bottle pharmacies use right this moment, solely built-in with AI and different elements that she constructed and programmed herself.

That consists of LEDs that gentle up when it’s time to take a tablet, as effectively a buzzer.

Her prescription bottles can be bought on to pharmacies, she determined.

Marrapu developed an app to accompany the machine. It permits the person to scan the bar code on the prescription bottle, which then autofills utilization details about the prescription, together with what number of drugs are to be taken and the way usually. When it’s time to take the medicine, not solely will the bottle gentle up and buzz; customers are also notified on their telephone.

“Everyone has a place in STEM, and the best way to lead is by example.”

By incorporating these 3 ways for the affected person to be reminded, the machine can alert those that are hearing-impaired or visually impaired as effectively.

To take the medicine, the person pushes a button on the bottle lid; the prescribed drugs are distributed from a gap on the backside. The lid is for design functions solely, to duplicate the appear and feel of strange prescription bottles.

The variety of drugs taken and the time of dosage is then recorded on the app. If the medicine is just not distributed on the scheduled time after repeat reminders, the app mechanically notifies the designated medical skilled or caretaker.

The app additionally lists sure meals the affected person ought to keep away from, relying on the medicine. Grapefruit, kale, cured meats, and different meals can have an effect on the best way some medicines work within the physique.

Another app function lets customers give the explanation why they’ve stopped taking a specific medicine, resembling uncomfortable side effects or monetary points. The app can present suggestions resembling methods to treatment the uncomfortable side effects, or it may recommend a generic different. It additionally notifies the medical skilled or caretaker.

The pill-tracking machine has a pattern-analysis algorithm that goals to assist stop prescription drug misuse. The algorithm tracks what number of drugs had been distributed “on demand” by the person. It will be achieved when, for instance, the affected person drops a tablet on the ground and must dispense one other to exchange it. The sample evaluation identifies when somebody is taking extra medicine than the physician prescribed and notifies the physician or a caretaker.

Getting in Front of the Customer

Marrapu first pitched her machine to CVS executives in February. She additionally visited pharmacies in her space to interview pharmacists and clients.

“This helped the evolution of my product,” Marrapu says. “There was feedback, for example, from those with arthritis, or elderly people who had a difficult time pressing the button. Meeting with pharmacists, I got the idea to incorporate touch ID and voice recognition in the next iteration to make it simpler to dispense medication.”

Executives at CVS’ Digital Innovation Lab mentioned they had been impressed by Marrapu’s machine. Together they’re partnering on subsequent steps to make sure the following model is extra handy and inclusive.

Some of Marrapu’s longer-term plans are to launch a startup to deliver the product to market and to develop extra inexpensive biomedical gadgets.

It’s by no means too early to start out a STEM profession

Marrapu grew up in a household and group the place lots of the adults labored in technical fields. Her mother and father each have jobs in data expertise.

She started competing in science, expertise, engineering, and math competitions at age 4. She participated within the First Lego League, a world robotics competitors for kids in grades 1 by way of 8. She went on to enter American Computer Science League competitions for college kids in grades 1 by way of 12.

Marrapu participated in ACSL nationwide competitions, profitable lots of them. She realized to code within the fourth and fifth grades, she says, turning into Java– and Python-certified.

It was throughout a visit to India visiting household whereas within the seventh grade that she discovered her ardour for biomedical engineering. At a charitable belief run by a household buddy, Marrapu witnessed sufferers who had been receiving prosthetic limbs without charge. The buddy confirmed her the bogus limbs, and Marrapu observed they didn’t have performance.

When Marrapu returned to highschool that 12 months, she constructed her first biomedical machine: an AI-powered prosthetic hand. Made from cheap electronics and 3D-printed elements, it provided the person a spread of movement and gripping capabilities. She then donated some to the belief.

She launched a nonprofit, STEMifyGirls, that very same 12 months to empower younger ladies to enter STEM fields. The group provides hands-on actions, competitions, and sources to assist college students change into considering STEM fields and purchase new expertise.

“I’ve always had a lot of support from my family and community to pursue whatever interests me, but I know that not everyone has the same resources that I had,” she says. “I wanted to provide young girls with the same opportunities.”

Through partnerships with organizations together with the Maryland STEM Festival, the Washington Academy of Sciences, and the Cyber & Steam Global Innovation Alliance, STEMify has reached some 4 million college students, she says.

Hands-on studying prepares college students for the actual world extra successfully than textbooks or classroom studying, Marrapu says, and he or she desires to offer that have to as many ladies and younger ladies as she will be able to.

“Everyone has a place in STEM,” Marrapu says. “And the best way to lead is by example.”