Introduction Of Miniature Chips In The Global Smart Pills Market

Extensive research and development is being carried on the use of miniature chips such as Addressable Transmitters Operated as Magnetic Spins (ATOMS) which can be used as smart pills. ATOMS are silicon chip devices that use the principle of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to determine the location of atoms in a patient’s body using magnetic fields. ATOMS can be used in ingestible smart pills to diagnose and treat diseases from within the body. The device can be used to monitor a patient’s gastrointestinal tract, blood, or brain. They also could measure factors that indicate the health of a patient such as pH, temperature, pressure, and sugar concentrations, and relay that information to doctors. The devices could even be instructed to release drugs. For instance, scientists at Caltech (California Institute of Technology) have developed a miniature medical chip that can be used as a smart pill.

The smart pills market consists of the sales of capsule sized ingestible medical devices with a small embedded electronic product such as sensors, cameras, patches, and trackers. Once swallowed, the smart pill gets activated in the gut and the sensors provide information about patient’s health parameters and the effectiveness of medication, leading to more optimized therapies. The market includes the sales of various ingestible smart medical devices that help in better diagnosis, patient monitoring and targeted drug delivery. The smart pills used in hospitals, diagnostic centers and research institutes are included in the market.

The global smart pills market is expected to decline from $2.5 billion in 2019 to $2.1 billion in 2020 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of -7%. The decline is mainly due to the Covid-19 outbreak resulting in other patients delaying their episodes of care. The market is then expected to recover and reach $2.9 billion in 2023 at a CAGR of 3.9%.

The growing preference for non-invasive procedures is driving the smart pills market. Non-invasive procedures are diagnostic and treatment procedures that do not require incision on the body or removal of tissues for treatment or diagnosis. Smart pill is a wireless, ingestible capsule that can be easily swallowed and has a wide range of applications in capsule endoscopy, drug delivery and patient monitoring. For instance, smart pills have key applications in diagnostic imaging such as capsule endoscopy. Capsule endoscopy is a diagnostic procedure in which a smart pill (capsule enclosed micro-camera) is swallowed, and images of the esophagus, stomach, and small intestine can be taken, as the device passes through the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Smart pills have revolutionized the diagnosis of gastrointestinal disorders and could replace conventional diagnostic techniques such as endoscopy.