Implications for administration of tuberculosis and other rigorous therapies. A test conducted by a California university team with tuberculosis (TB) patients comparing Wirelessly Observed Therapy (WOT) administered through Proteus Digital Health’s combination ingestible pill and sensor-based smartphone tracking, versus standard Directly Observed Therapy (DOT), found that WOT was equivalent to DOT in accuracy–and superior to DOT in supporting confirmed daily adherence to TB medications. It was also overwhelmingly preferred by participants. 

TB is a disease where treatment requires strict adherence to medication protocols over a lengthy treatment course and usually requires a period of direct observation of patient dosage. In the first part of the test examining accuracy under direct observation, the researchers reported a 99.3 percent rate of positive detection accuracy (95% CI, 98.1% to 100%) among 77 TB patients under treatment with IS-Rifamate. The second part of the study among 66 patients took place in a randomized control test. The Proteus WOT system was found superior to DOT in supporting confirmed daily adherence to TB medications during the continuation phase of TB treatment by 93 percent to 63 percent. The treatment course was as long as 29 weeks. Participants rated preference for a WOT system at 100 percent.

The study was performed by researchers from the University of California, San Diego, Stanford University, HHS and Orange County Health Care Agency and published in PLOS Medicine on 4 October. The team recommended that a WOT system like Proteus be used within high-burden TB settings in low and middle-income countries, especially as it can be monitored seven days a week versus a standard five days.  Mobihealthnews