New non-drug pill helps ease constipation overnight

[thewayne]

This is exceptionally clever. It vibrates.

30 seconds on, 30 seconds off, vibrating as it works its way through your digestive tract. The vibrations help to stimulate the peristaltic response, and then the pill is 'ejected' in the morning. Some testers said they could sense the vibrations, but that it wasn't unpleasant or kept them awake.

It will be interesting to see how much this is when it hits the market. My dad had this problem for most of his life, I wish they'd come out with this a couple of years ago.

https://gizmodo.com/constipation-vibrating-pill-prescription-remedy-treat-1850099562

Comments

[thewayne]

Agreed.  It's a very simple device: eccentric weight on a motor for vibrations, and a timer and battery.  That's about it.  Should not be hugely expensive to make, I would think.  They'll probably end up adding Bluetooth to it and a smart phone app just to drive up the price to increase profits.

[silveradept]

Or to give it some kind of unique feature that would make it patentable. As described, it seems generic enough that others could manufacture the same things, but if there's something unique that has to be left out for a generic than the company can tout how their version is superior because of this cosmetic thing that doesn't do anything at all.