Canadians Create Intelligent Medicine

RunAmuk writes "Engineers at the University of Calgary have developed a pill that, once swallowed, will determine how healthy or ill the patient is, and will release just the right amount of medicine accordingly, according to an article on Wired. As the sensors used in these pills grow more advanced are doctors going to be come obsolete except for real physical injuries? Of course, anyone who has been to a doctor in Canada understands that we need medicine that can do the diagnosis for them."

Comments

Just in case it gets /.ed :D

[Anonymous Coward]

Engineers at the University of Calgary have developed a pill that, once swallowed, will determine how healthy or ill the patient is, and will release just the right amount of medicine accordingly.

Dubbed the Intelligent Pill or iPill, the new drug-delivery system packs a micropump and sensors that monitor the body's temperature and pH balance into one pill. If the body's temperature and pH reach certain levels, the iPill responds by pumping out more or less of its drug payload. It could be used to treat many ailments like AIDS or diabetes.

"If you overdose yourself with pain relievers, you are killing your kidneys and liver," said the iPill's inventor, Wael Badawy, an electrical engineer at the University of Calgary . "The iPill will help people have healthier kidneys and liver, as it will only deliver the dose that's needed."
The device also can be programmed to release drugs at various intervals. This could be particularly useful in treating diseases such as cancer or AIDS, where cocktails of many different medications may be required at constant intervals.
"Instead of taking many pills at different times, with the iPill you could adjust its timer and swallow them all at once and get the right doses at the right times," Badawy said.
The iPill's electronic gadgetry, 400 square micrometers in size (roughly equal to the size of CmdrTaco's penis), fills a space smaller than the area of 10 blood cells. It is encapsulated in a penny-size plastic casing that is resistant to stomach acids.
Keeping the iPill small does, however, mean the device can only store one milliliter of drugs in its internal reservoir. But that should be enough for many drugs.
"It comes down to what drug you're using -- this may be a big enough reservoir," said Derek Hansford, professor at the Materials Science and Engineering Department at Ohio State University. "They could increase the size of the pill, and the gadgetry wouldn't have to be increased. This would leave them more room."

Badawy's prototype iPill has an ARM VII microprocessor, produced by Advanced RISC Machines , and silicon-oxide sensors.
The sensors feed information about the patient's body to the iPill's chip, which in turn controls the micropumps that squeeze out a drug dose.
"When an electrical voltage is applied to the smart material of the pumps, the pumps expand and force the drug down a channel and out of the pill," Badawy said.

The system is powered by supercapacitors -- layers of metal that store up to four hours of power. Once the device does its work, it goes out the way of all solid human waste products, usually within one to three days.
So far the iPill has only been put through its paces in the lab, where it has been immersed in vats of varying acidities to see if it would release the appropriate amounts of drugs.
Badawy says the tests have so far been 100 percent reliable, but the iPill has some kinks that need to be ironed out before it would be fit for human consumption. One remaining issue is the power source.

"We are looking at ways to prolong the working time, and this is one of our biggest problems. We are looking for an alternative power source so it will last for 12 hours or one day," Badawy said.
Despite the challenges, some have hailed the iPill as a breakthrough.
"It would allow for temperature and pH readings in more than one place in the body and, most importantly, this is done in a completely noninvasive way," said Michael Simpson, a scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory .
"If I had a drug that could measure glucose levels and deliver the drug based on this, it would be great" for patients who have diabetes, said endocrinologist Dan Berger at the Sansom Santa Barbara Clinic.

Badawy said he expects the iPill will be available for animal testing within two years, and a product approved for human use in four to five. It should sell for about 10 cents a pill, he said.

Re:Just in case it gets /.ed :D

[coolmacdude]

I would think Wired would have enough bandwidth.

Re:Just in case it gets /.ed :D

[Anonymous Coward]

Perhaps, but Wired don't put in micropenis references.

Easy answer

[theantix]

As the sensors used in these pills grow more advanced are doctors going to be come obsolete except for real physical injuries?

No.

"i-Pill will cure thee of thy illness"

[coolmacdude]

Okay pill, I think I have a pain in my chest, come cure me.

No wait, scratch that. It could be a heart attack.

Maybe I should go to the doctor after all.

At least it's spelled right this time

[Anonymous Coward]

Lame-ass editors.

Ignorant American

[MBCook]

"...Of course, anyone who has been to a doctor in Canada understands that we need medicine that can do the diagnosis for them."

Would someone please explain this comment to me? I thought Canada was supposed to have a very good health care system. It's socialized, isn't it? I would think that not having to deal with all the HMO crap would lead to more time with paitents and hence better care?

PS: as bad as some people say things are, I'd still rather have our current system than socialist medicine here in the US. Just my 2 cents so people don't think I'm trying to be political. Just wondered what the comment meant.

Re:Ignorant American

[thebigmacd]

Well from my experience with a friend who has Lupus for about the 6th year now, the doctors are unwilling to diagnose her for lack of knowledge about it and therefore they have tried about ten different meds on her, all anti-inflammatory drugs (which is good, but they are still experimenting). because of that she lost her medical plan from work because they need diagnosis as proof of illness. She eventually got her coverage back, but its not a normal thing. And yes we need private coverage here for medication costs unless we want to pay it all ourselves.

Re:Ignorant American

[renehollan]

Born in Canada (sucks to be me), and having lived there and the U.S., I find Canadians a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers, by comparison to Americans, who, at worst, are paranoid, opinionated, blowhards. I'll take the Americans any day -- no one ever died from an opinion.

Socialized medicine in Canada works like this:

1. You pay (via your taxes).
2. You are promised health care.
3. You get sick.
4. You wait (25% of all cardiac patients referred to a specialist by their general practitioner die before being seen). 5. You get care on a par with U.S.-style Medicaid.

Furthermore, if you move between provinces or are a returning expatriate (like me) (at least in the case of moving to Ontario), you have to sign a form that you intend to reside there permanently before being eligible for health care. As I hate it here and intend to try again for eventual U.S. citizenship via the H1B/Green Card route (heck, my three year old son is an American), I can not, in all honesty sign that form, and so, do not have health insurance. Nor can I buy it instead of the state insurance, legally. I pay to see a doctor.

Purchasing health insurance outside the system is illegal.

In Canada, you can have a sick patient able to pay top dollar for needed surgery, doctors who have reached the government quota on how many such surgeries thay can perform (to cap thier salaries, paid out of tax dollars) and thus can't perform it. Doctors are paid the same rate (well, indexed for geographic region), and can't differentiate on the basis of skill -- the best leave for the U.S.

Often it is noted that the cost of providing health care is less in Canada than the U.S. This may be true, but the quality of care available is far, far, inferior.

Re:Ignorant American

[optikSmoke]

Here's something I've always wondered about: "up here" (heh) we call it public healthcare, I think I've only ever heard it called "socialized medicine" in the States. It's like the easiest way for the companies in the States to keep their massize industry is to slap a communist implication on it and let the public beat up anyone who voices their opinion for it.

BTW, this is more of a general observation on US politics than a specific comment on healthcare.... it seems to happen in everything. Oh well, some misconceptions die hard.

Re:Ignorant American

[Anonymous Coward]

Speaking as a Canadian, I'd far rather be hospitalized in the US than in Canada. Those who haven't experienced it first hand simply cannot understand how terrible the nurses in Canada are. "Spoiled, unionized brats" sums it up in three words, though.

Re:Ignorant American

[MBCook]

Interesting, I've never thought of that. That said, it seems to fit. Just look up "socialism" on Dictionary.com and you'll find this (somewhere down on the page):

socialism

n 1: a political theory advocating state ownership of industry 2: an economic system based on state ownership of capital [syn: socialist economy] [ant: capitalism]

Sounds like you have a socialist medical system to me. Maybe they don't call it that in Canada because they don't want you to realize it's Communism? I know Canada isn't communist, but it's just the other side of the coin. Interesting, eh?

Re:Ignorant American

[Tharn]

Besides which, all the best Canadian doctors go to the US. That is the most important and never mentioned bit about Canadian "health care". Basically, Canadian tax payes are paying not only for their own health care, but in addition are running the equivalent of one Canadian university SOLELY to staff american hospitals. Canada does NOT have better health care or more accessable health care than the US.

Re:Ignorant American

[Glytch]

That was merely intended to be a cheap shot from a rabidly jingoistic twit who's been taught by CNN to hate all government programs not invented in the good ol' US of A and desperately wants to move down there. Pay it no mind.

Here's a quick lesson to those unfamiliar with Medicare up here: the government doesn't run the entire health care system like in Soviet-style communism, they merely fund universal insurance. That's the incomplete short version, but that's the basics.

Not to be confused with the US gov't Medicare program, a totally different animal.

Re:Ignorant American

[Anonymous Coward]

I find Canadians a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers

this seems like a statement with a solid base.. did we get beat up a lot in ol' montreal rene?

Re:Ignorant American

[Anonymous Coward]

that's a nice assumed fact, I'm sure the rabid patriots will chew it up.. you do know that there is a very large portion of our country who would never, EVER, in their right minds move to the US?.. australia, britain, sweden, poland, japan.. fuck, maybe even mexico.. but never, ever, your country

Re:Ignorant American

[Tuzanor]

You seem a little harsh, and I have a hard time believing you're canadian. I've never had any of the above mentioned problems, and neither did my friend when he got lukemia. I have never heard of this surgeon quota, and a quick google search didn't find me anything.

There are some problems, however. The salaries do need to go up for doctors and surgeons., as a lot (but certainly not all) do head to the US. Its not an astronomical number as you imply, though.

Most life threatening surgeries/treatments are done quickly, but its the non life threatening ones that are the bitch. Waiting lists for knee surgeries and the like are almost a year!

Also, there is a lot of fraud and abuse of the system, which costs a lot, and spending lately has not gone up proportionally to inflation and population growth. Private clinics/hospitals are not the answer here. More money and some internal competition is what is needed, and more money to doctors and less to management.

You're rant about how much you "hate it here" tells me that you're either not canadian or spent little time here or both. Either way, go back the the US, if you like it that much. But ask and you'll find 98% of us are very happy here, and we can get started on what's wrong with the USA.

Re:Ignorant American

[Tharn]

I AM CANADIAN

Re:Ignorant American

[Tuzanor]

aha, i spoke to soon. I checked out your website and see that you're from quebec. My apologies for that mess you're from. ALways a problem, the french, hopefully things will get better with the new government there.

Re:Ignorant American

[alphaseven]

Would someone please explain this comment to me? I thought Canada was supposed to have a very good health care system. It's socialized, isn't it? I would think that not having to deal with all the HMO crap would lead to more time with paitents and hence better care?

Canada does have a very good health care system. Basically, Canadians have longer lifespans and lower infant mortality than Americans, while Canada spends far less per capita on health care.

Lots of people will give you anecdotal stories about Canadians being denied health care and long waiting lists and incompetent doctors, but stuff like that happens under HMOs too. Some people call it socialized medicine, though I think it's also called a 'single payer' system, where the government is acting as your insurer.

Re:Ignorant American

[pkhuong]

Communism \Com"mu*nism\, n. [F. communisme, fr. commun common.]
A scheme of equalizing the social conditions of life;
specifically, a scheme which contemplates the abolition of
inequalities in the possession of property, as by
distributing all wealth equally to all, or by holding all
wealth in common for the equal use and advantage of all.

!= socialism.

Re:Ignorant American

[Anonymous Coward]

I think that that all sounds fine, up until "Purchasing health insurance outside the system is illegal." That sounds BSity

Re:Ignorant American

[adoll]

they merely fund universal insurance.

There is more to it than that! The hospitals are run by the governments too and private clinics are strictly limited in the procedures they may perform. Note the horror that Eastern Canada greeted the BC plan to run private MRI clinics and the Alberta plan to let clinics do surgeries requiring overnight stays. "Medicare" is more than the name of the "insurance" program; it is the federal government's mechanism for userping much of a provincial responsibility: health care. It also keeps thousands of Union members happily overpaid.

Yes, there are other mechanisms for paying for health care in Canada: Workers Compensation and the Armed Forces for example. But ordinary citizens who want ordinary treatment have NO choice in this country.

-AD
Edmonton

Re:Ignorant American

[adoll]

Governments in Canada run hospitals, in addition to the 'insurance' system. Doctors are permitted to operate their own clinics, but within severely limited scopes. And the access to operating rooms is rationed to the doctors.

Yes, Canadians pay less on health care than Americans. But ours is the 2nd most expensive system in the world. Australia, Sweden and much of northern Europe operates "as good or better" systems much cheaper AND most allow people some level of choice in health care (like Australia's 2 insurance systems or Sweden's private hospitals who compete for your government voucher). England is going through some serious rethinking of their "national health system" right now with people considering a change to an Australian system.

But not all is doom & gloom, some cutting edge work is being done here.

Re:Ignorant American

[rlowe69]

Thank you, pkhuong for clearing that up. People hear socialism and they think communism.

Dictionary.com actually goes a bit further in the definition of socialism:

"The word, however, is used with a great variety of meaning, . . . even by economists and learned critics. The general tendency is to regard as socialistic any interference undertaken by society on behalf of the poor, . . . radical social reform which disturbs the present system of private property . . . The tendency of the present socialism is more and more to ally itself with the most advanced democracy."

Re:Ignorant American

[renehollan]

As with any generalization, there will always be those who do not fit the description. However, as that is my view of Canadian government, and Canada is supposedly a free representative democracy (despite being, constitutionally, a federal union of sovereign provinces), it stands to reason that, if it accurately describes the government, it must accurately describe the majority of the population (or at least those eligible to vote). So, let's apply the accusation to the way the nation has been governed.

Liars: socialized health care was promised as a tax funded government program. The taxes are collected but the care provided is less than could be obtained with the funds collected from the average middle class taxpayer on the free health insurance market. I paid a far smaller fraction of my income for far better health insurance when I lived in the U.S.

Thieves: because one can't opt out of the system and exclusively buy private health insurance with the tax dollars saved, the monies are effectively stolen. If you're arguing for forceful redistribution of wealth from the richer to the poorer, then make that argument. Do not pretend to offer the payers something they are not receiving.

Murderers: robbed of the means to purchase their own health insurance on the free market, some Canadians die because of the inferior care provided to them.

I will grant that the numbers of Canadians murdered in this way by the Canadian health care system is but a small minority -- if it were a serious problem, there would be an uproar, desite the generally non-revolutionary climate here. I will also grant that some lives may have been saved by the redistribution of tax dollars used to fund health care. I'll even accept that perhaps, the number of people murdered is far less than the number of lives saved.

But, regardless of how many lives can be saved by even a single death, in no way is that death so justified (unless, of course, the need to save those other lives is as a direct consequence of the actions of the would-be victim).

It is still murder.

Re:Ignorant American

[renehollan]

You seem a little harsh, and I have a hard time believing you're canadian.

Born 1961, Montreal, Quebec.

I've never had any of the above mentioned problems, and neither did my friend when he got lukemia.

Then you and your friend have been extremely lucky. Know this: the funds for that care, in some small part, came from an individual who never needed more than a routine doctor's visit, until he needed repair of an abdominal aortic aneurysm. Left untreated this is a death sentence. The best surgeons in the U.S. have a 70% recovery rate. The surgery was denied in Canada. Had the patient purchased U.S.-style private health insurance, or even self-insured, with the tax dollars he paid for health care since it was was socialized in Canada, affording the surgery would have been a non-issue, with plenty of funds to spare. However, he was literally taxed to death, denied the means to save his own life with his own money.

I have never heard of this surgeon quota, and a quick google search didn't find me anything.

You think it would be front page news? Look deeper, like for waiting lists for moderate surgery, like hip replacements, etc. Why are there waiting lists at the same time that doctor's salaries are capped? If there are waiting lists, there is demand, yet supply is curtailed.

There are some problems, however. The salaries do need to go up for doctors and surgeons., as a lot (but certainly not all) do head to the US. Its not an astronomical number as you imply, though.

Salaries need to be established by a free market, and not capped by state fiat. As for transmigration between Canada and the U.S., a far greater percentage of Canadians leave to go south, than the reverse -- IIRC 1/10 as many Americans emmigrate to Canada, in terms of sheer numbers, but that translates into 1/100th of the population. IOW, Canadians are 100 times as likely to leave for the U.S. than the reverse. Wonder why?

Most life threatening surgeries/treatments are done quickly, but its the non life threatening ones that are the bitch. Waiting lists for knee surgeries and the like are almost a year!

See my notes on this above. When "most" is "less than would have happened on a free market with the patient's own funds", this is state-sanctioned murder.

More money and some internal competition is what is needed, and more money to doctors and less to management.

Only a free market can deliver this -- Canada has been throwing money at health care for decades, rather than letting the health care system earn what it deserves bassed on service and volume provided.

You're rant about how much you "hate it here" tells me that you're either not canadian or spent little time here or both. Either way, go back the the US, if you like it that much.

I was born in and lived in Canada from 1961 to 1997, left for the U.S. with family and lived there from late 1997 to early 2003, having to return for visa reasons. I would gladly leave again at the first opportunity, no doubt pleasing us both.

But ask and you'll find 98% of us are very happy here, and we can get started on what's wrong with the USA.

Of course 98% are happy! They rob and murder the remainder. Hence, my broad generalization that 98% of Canadians are liars, thieves, and murderers.

Time and time again, I've been told to lie on government forms to "get what I need", saying, for example, that I intend to live in Ontario permanently. A society where deceipt is an essential part of the culture, essential for survival is a very unhealthy one.

As for the U.S., there are plenty of problems there. In fact, compared to most Canadians, I called most Americans "paranoid, opinionated, blowhards". I figured if I was going to generalize and catch those that do not fit the description in such a wide net, I may as well seek the worst in the place I prefer. I reiterate, I prefer opinionated blowhards to murderers.

Re:Ignorant American

[renehollan]

I checked out your website and see that you're from quebec. My apologies for that mess you're from. ALways a problem, the french, hopefully things will get better with the new government there.

While my experience in Quebec shaped my hatred of fascism (rampant there), and libertarian attitude, an examination of federal Canadian policy reveals much of the same. I now live in Ontario, and, except for separatist angst, find it far worse than when I left Quebec in 2003, as far as federal policies are concerned.

With regard to the Quebec separatist movement, there is a rather significant peaceful francophone population who would happily cut Quebec into two: an English and French part (and demographics would make this simple). I'd support this. The ideals of this aging fallout from the quiet revolution have been usurped by modern day fascists who would see to the separation of Quebec from Canada, but with the effective enslavement of the English minority as "payback" for some perceived prior injustices -- Jacques Parizzeau's plans for separation, public before the last referrendum would have divided Quebec into some ten tax zones, with the predominantly english-speaking part taxed the heaviest, and made it illegal to move between tax-zones for the sole purpose of reducing the tax burden.

Re:Ignorant American

[renehollan]

You can not purchase private health insurance in Canada unless it is "supplementary" insurance, over and above what the public system provides.

This is true, even if you are willing to fund the public system via your tax dollars, and not use it (not that you have a choice in not funding it), though that would make it very expensive and unaffordable for most.

Since I can not use the public system unless I agree to never leave Ontario (people born in the province do not have to make this declaration -- it applies to people who move here from another province or, as in my case, returning Canadian expatriates (ex-expatriates?)), I tried purchasing private insurance from Lloyds of London. It would have cost US$2600 for a year of decent coverage, for the whole family, but when they learned I was a Canadian citizen, and thus eligible for public health care, they pointed to the Canadian law that made it illegal for me to purchase it and for them to sell it in Canada.

It's a funny definition of "eligible", that, having to agree to be a resident until death.

Re:Ignorant American

[Deflagro]

I agree. HMOs suck and it's so very complicated. You have to make sure the doctor is in your network, and in your area, etc. I had to be referred twice and see 3 doctors before i could get minor surgery on my toe. Oh yea, as i was writhing in pain, it took a month to get looked at. Mind you i am paying 400$ a month for this "Service". Medications are covered at a percentage if it's generic, otherwise you pay. Most things get denied by HMOs as they have full say as to what they cover, etc... I'm sorry, but the US is not that grand. Canada was easier to be honest, and cheaper even if you "Have no choice".

Re:Ignorant American

[2TecTom]

As a dual American / Canadian citizen, no, I'm afraid I can't. I've noticed little or no difference between any individual doctors whether they be north or south of some largely irrelevant political boundary. As to your preference for the current system, well, I can only suppose you spoke out of affluence or ignorance. The overly affluent medical industry clearly and unethically exploits the disadvantaged, elderly and impoverished. Imho, doctors should care about patients, not profits. If they want to get rich, they should have gotten an MBA.

As for socialized medicine, there's nothing left-wing or communistic or socialistic about a cost-shared, equal access, publicly accountable, non profit, basic and open health care system. It would simply be cost effective and humane, nothing more, nothing less.

Beside, north or south of the border, it really doesn't matter, as it's actually a very similar situation. Canadians have issues with heathcare access as well. In fact, they largely stem from the same root cause, greed. Whatever good the medical industry does, is offset by the harm it currently causes. Doctors have so eroded the trust we placed in them that they've created a largely unregulated alternate health mass movement based on pseudoscience, rumor and supposition. Furthermore, natural and useful substances are dismissed simply because they aren't profitable enough. In these ways, millions of Americans and Canadians are denied effective treatment or even factual information. Drug companies routinely influence drug studies, prescription decisions and the market and certainly not for the betterment of all. This is a good thing?

If anyone thinks that every social system should be governed by those who profit from it, then accept that people will always be exploited. Those who would manage with only short term profits in mind are simply ignoring long term cost in order to try to justify an excessive lifestyle they haven't earned. That's hardly an ideal I'd promote. Really, from my perspective, the successful thieves are the ones holding the bags of money. By the way, have you seen the movie, Patch Adams? Tell me, in all honesty, isn't he a the kind of doctor we really should be seeking? Personally, imho, he should be running the whole health show. Not like we'd ever have the courage and conviction to see that through. Am I the only one who sees the imminent decline and fall of the American empire? To me it seems we allowed the wealthy to totally corrupt the system to the point of no return, and, as to personal sacrifice, no, I won't post this anonymously.

Re:Ignorant American

[monkeydo]

They have to let some die. Soylent Green is people.

Socialism Rules!

Re:Ignorant American

[monkeydo]

From Merriam Webster:

Main Entry: socialized medicine
Function: noun
Date: 1937
: medical and hospital services for the members of a class or population administered by an organized group (as a state agency) and paid for from funds obtained usually by assessments, philanthropy, or taxation

Sound familiar?

Re:Ignorant American

[renehollan]

They have to let some die

"Letting someone die" is to do nothing to stop their impending death. However, in the supposed noble interest of not "letting some die", they actively take from others, so that those others no longer have the independent means to save themselves when they might otherwise be near death. That is not "letting them die"... that is killing them without justification, i.e. murder.

Re:Ignorant American

[Anonymous Coward]

Montreal? That explains it.

Re:Ignorant American

[optikSmoke]

I am not saying the use is improper, I'm just musing about the fact that it is used much more in the States than here.

Re:Ignorant American

[siphoncolder]

We have a fairly good healthcare system, yes. "Socialized" is correct though, as it's supposed to bring all people, rich or poor, to the same level so they can receive equal treatment.

As for wait times: yes, the wait times to see a doctor are still high. The problem that you'll hear about is that the government(s) want to more or less outlaw private health care because giving your business to a private doctor takes the raison d'etre away from the public system (as well as resources, i.e. much-needed doctors and nurses). Really - would you want to work on the government dole rather than make heaps more cash on your own? Depends on your gumption, but that's a problem facing the public system today. That, and the fact that we can't properly afford it in the long-term, and Young Canada will end up footing the bill (much like we'll end up footing the Canada Pension Plan without one for ourselves).

Canada is a nice place, but we expect more than we can afford.

Re:Ignorant American

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, it is indeed BS. Apparently he was told by Lloyd's of London (an authority on the Canadian legal system, to be sure) that he couldn't buy health insurance. I guess they didn't provide him any specific information on the laws involved, and he is simply more credulous than your average slashdotter. There are a wide variety of Canadian companies willing to sell health insurance, and a wide variety of Canadians willing to buy.

Nice Troll

[Nighttime]

The iPill's electronic gadgetry, 400 square micrometers in size (roughly equal to the size of CmdrTaco's penis),

And moderators automatically mod these things up?

Fact following Science Fiction

[dpilot]

Greg Bear had the 'therapied population' in some of his novels. It sounded like medication systems like this, only implanted rather than swallowed. Continuous lower dosages seems IMHO to be the way to go, rather than seesawing beteen approaching-ineffective and approaching-lethal the way periodic medications do. (I know they don't approach lethal that closely, and that some medications just plain build up over time, and don't really seesaw.)

In the novels, they focused more on psychoactive drugs to control our crazy tendancies, but IMHO the first drug would/should have been insulin. They also created a three-tier society, with 'high naturals' on top, who needed no therapy, the 'therapied' in the middle, and those who denied needed therapy on the bottom. Therapy wasn't forced except in violent cases.

But that's a few years away.

Obligatory joke.

[Anonymous Coward]

I AM CANADIAN

I'm sorry.

MOD PARENT DOWN

[Anonymous Coward]

Is this how you gain karma? Post some trash with penile references, then log in and point this fact out so you get karma?

Nice try buddy.

Re:MOD PARENT DOWN

[narftrek]

Or is this how you gain karma? Post an article with a penile reference, then log in and point that fact out. And then log back out and bitch about the fact that you pointed the fact out?

Nice try buddy.

I for one..

[Ryan Stortz]

I for one welcome our new Canadian Overlords. Aboot time.

Re:I for one..

[Anonymous Coward]

Ha. Funny. Haven't heard that one before.

By the way, your new Canadian Overlords are having difficulty understanding our new subservient American friends. It seems we just don't get the difference between "y'all" and it's plural form "all y'alls"...

Me, I'll take a slight accent over idiotic grammar anyday.

I dunno aboot you

[Anonymous Coward]

but I am not going to trust a smart pill made by folks who think that back bacon and lager are the food pyramid.

Re:I dunno aboot you

[CdnYoda]

Lager!? Egads! Uneducated cad...another Canadian myth shattered... Romulan Ale rules!

Re:I dunno aboot you

[MacEnvy]

I am not going to trust a smart pill made by folks who think that back bacon and lager are the food pyramid.

For god's sake, why not?!
Mmmmm ... lager bacon ...

Great!

[MonTemplar]

`Ozzy & Drix`, now playing in your lower intestine. :-)

Good Idea, But Let's Not Overpromise.

[G4from128k]

Where did they get the 10 cents price figure? This does not make sense either from the standpoint of the industry that will use the device or the industry that will make the device. Nothing related to healthcare is ever 10 cents -- FDA regs on manufacturing, the amortized cost of approvals, and sterile packaging all conspire to add cost. Moreover, the device must carry and medicine cabinet's worth of drugs, with each drug adding to the cost of the device. Even extremely simple ICs have a hard time getting to 10 cents and this little pill is far more complicated than a simple IC because it contains a CPU, powercell, biosensors, and medicine-dispensing MEMs. I'm not against the invention because it does sound like a really good idea. I am against hyping the device with unrealistic projections of price and capability.

Re:Good Idea, But Let's Not Overpromise.

[Medevo]

Funny Thing about Canada
One strange thing that happens here is when medical devices and drugs are approved, the government sets the cost. The manafacturer is asked what it would like to charge, and has to support its price with R&D info and production costs( and profit). Despite what the company may like, the federal government will set a price that balances the companys costs (and profit) with availiability and price to consumers.

As result of this system, many drugs approved both in Canada and the USA, by the same company and the same patent have a different price. This has created a market in Canada, where Canadian Pharamicies sell drugs to Americans for a lower (sometimes alot) Price.

How would this affect the pill?
Say the R&D cost is about 25 mil USD and the production cost per pill is .25 USD
even if there is a wide profit margin (100%) i doubt a mass market version (20mil+ with monthly) would cost more then $5-10 USD per pill and $60-120(USD) per year.

10 cents a pill does seem very low, but not entirly off base. This technology could allow drug treatment to be hormonally controlled (reacts to homeostasis/Blood Concentration's) and improve millions of people lives, for a cost that is not that high.

Medevo

Re:Good Idea, But Let's Not Overpromise.

[falsified]

*gasp* But that gives the government too much POWER! Don't private corporations have the God-given right to artificially create a monopoly price market?! COMMIE!

Hint to fellow Americans: Maybe sometimes the government isn't evil.

Why Supercaps?

[G4from128k]

Supercapacitors are terribly inferior in energy density to chemical batteries because they rely on the potential energy stored in separated electrical charges instead of the energy in atomic chemical bonds. A 1 Farad supercap only stores 0.28 mAh (assuming a 1V swing). A lithium battery of similar size can store 190 mAh.

Lithium cell(s) would be a better energy storage mechanism and would have the added advantage of being able to cure schizophrenia. I can only assume they chose supercaps so that the entire unit can be fabbed on a single die with no additional components, but that seems like an artificial constraint.

Re:Why Supercaps is Offtopic?

[G4from128k]

The comment was made directly to a question posed in the Article: The system is powered by supercapacitors -- layers of metal that store up to four hours of power. .....
....
Badawy says the tests have so far been 100 percent reliable, but the iPill has some kinks that need to be ironed out before it would be fit for human consumption. One remaining issue is the power source.

"We are looking at ways to prolong the working time, and this is one of our biggest problems. We are looking for an alternative power source so it will last for 12 hours or one day," Badawy said.

Canadian Doctors Smart Pill

[zeusjfk]

Wow, at first I thought this was a Neufi joke, but then I realized you were serious. I hope it might work on George Bush. But then, where would one begin to fix that dud?

Re:Canadian Doctors Smart Pill

[NieKinNL]

But serious, I find this a great invention! And I truly believe that this wil advance; the pill will get smaller and better in time. To me this is another step towards the micro-robot technology, where one can inject micro-robots that can fix you from the inside..)

New Thread...propane powers cars

[zeusjfk]

I am new to the list and do not yet know how to start a new thread.. I am interested in converting a 74 VW bus to propane power. I am originally from a farming community where it was quite usual in the 70s(to see tractors run on propane or butane. I found some reference to the topic earlier on this list...anyone care to share information? thanks..