Vitality, creators of the Internet-connected pill cap, announced today that its first commercially available product, the GlowCap SOLO, is now available for purchase on glowcaps.com and Amazon.com. Half of all Americans now take some type of medication everyday, yet millions forget and jeopardize their health in the process. According to the World Health Organization, “failure to take prescribed medicine for chronic diseases is a massive, worldwide problem. Adherence among patients suffering from chronic diseases averages only 50%.” The GlowCap product line was developed to address the billion-dollar compliance problem for pharmaceutical brands, retail pharmacies, healthcare providers, and patients with a simple device that reminds users to take their daily medication.

Glowcaps fit on standard medication vials used by large retail pharmacies such as Walgreens, as well as many other independent pharmacies. A small computer inside each GlowCap illuminates the pill cap and plays a melody at medication times. It is a gentle reminder that improves prescription compliance.

“Non-adherence is a critical issue for health care system; it reduces the effectiveness of medications and threatens the quality of care for all of us,” said David Rose, CEO of Vitality at a recent Health Symposium held at Harvard Medical School. “Vitality has spent the last few years in deep customer research to understand why people fail to take their medications. The GlowCap product line will change the way medication is packaged and help significantly increase adherence rates. If you take a prescription medication for a chronic disease like hypertension or high cholesterol, you should consider this product for yourself or your loved ones.”

Setting up a GlowCap is extremely simple: just insert the included watch batteries to set the reminder time. Then, every day thereafter, at the correct times, the GlowCap flashes as a visual reminder and periodically plays a short melody until the pill bottle is opened. The GlowCap SOLO retails for $29.95 on Amazon.com.