Medisafe, a provider of personalized medication management platform has unveiled a new feature to alert users of possible drug-to-drug interactions that may cause unexpected side effects and/or alter the way the medications perform. The new interactions feature also includes disclosures when medications have other lifestyle implications, such as interactions with specific foods or alcohol. Medisafe’s new drug interaction feature is initially available for iOS users.
With the latest drug-to-drug feature, Medisafe is aiming to reduce the millions of preventable health emergencies resulting from dangerous medication combinations as well as to increase adherence to medications patients are not taking as prescribed, due to side effects related to a known interaction. The majority of Medisafe users are managing multiple medications; in many cases the medications are filled at different pharmacies and downloaded directly into Medisafe using the app’s medication import feature. As a result, an individual physician may not know all of the drugs a patient has been prescribed.
The Medisafe platform distinguishes between interactions based on their level of health risk using a four-point scale (“minor,” “moderate,” “major” and “severe”), taking a triaged approach to its communications accordingly.
– After Medisafe users add a medication that has a known “severe” or “major” interaction with another medication in their virtual pillbox, they receive an alert in the app’s Updates section (a.k.a the “feed”) advising them of the potential dangers and to consult their treating physician immediately.
– All interactions, from “minor” and “severe,” as well as lifestyle, appear on a drug’s “med info” screen. Users can consult this screen at any time, but they will not receive a proactive alert.
– In the coming weeks, users will be able to look up the known interactions for any medication using Medisafe’s soon-to-be-launched “Interaction Checker.”
“Dangerous drug-to-drug interactions are preventing people trying to follow their prescribed regimens from getting the expected benefit, sending them to the hospital unnecessarily, or even causing premature deaths,” stated Jon Michaeli, executive vice president of business development and marketing at Medisafe in a statement. “What is truly exciting is that our platform has all the requisite data, so we are in a unique position to catch these interactions early on, keeping patients out of harm’s way and continuing their path to better health. And in many cases, we will help close the loop with doctors and care managers in their constant effort to maintain accurate medication records for their patients.”
