Drug companies have a new plan to keep us “compliant”

You get “points” when you use certain charge cards, and free airline tickets when you rack up enough air miles — but get ready for this one.

Two companies are teaming up to reward “compliance” if you take your drugs as directed.

And yes, it involves more spying on you.

Spying to see if you get a drug refill, or even — get this — knowing whether or not you’ve actually dosed yourself if the drug is an injectable.

West Pharmaceutical Services, a company that makes these tracking medical devices, got together with a company called HealthPrize to make taking drugs as “fun” as being on Wheel of Fortune.

HealthPrize says it delivers “rewards” and “education” with what it calls “the secret sauce” to get people to take their meds.

The company’s website says that “our brains respond to incentives” and, that people taking medications want, even “expect,” to be rewarded.

Seriously?

And when you watch the HealthPrize video, it gets even more ridiculous.

It starts by saying “Max has this condition and he’s supposed to take these pills every day.”

But Max doesn’t do that.

Then Max joins HealthPrize, which “actually makes taking his medication fun!”

HealthPrize is “like a loyalty program for his medication.” And if Max “is really good” he can win cash too!

Max doesn’t have to pay one penny for all this fun because Big Pharma foots the bill for him. That’s because it cares “deeply about Max taking his medications.”

You bet it does.

Because if we all skipped our meds for just one day, that’s millions of dollars that Big Pharma cares very deeply about lost.

Sources:
“West Pharmaceutical services and HealthPrize technologies join forces on Connected Health” Fierce PharmaMarketing, October 6, 2014, fiercepharmamarketing.com