Abstract

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved the first ever ‘digital’ drug, an antipsychotic (aripiprazole) embedded with a sensor (Abilify MyCite) that tracks data about drug ingestion as well as activity level and mood patterns. In this paper, we identify the financial and sociopolitical drivers that have facilitated the development and regulatory approval of a digital drug marketed for people with psychotic disorders. We explore the novel ways that such devices blur the distinctions between medication, machine and mind. The risks of digital aripiprazole obscuring and exacerbating the effects of social inequity are discussed. However, we also consider the possibility that this digital psychotropic drug may allow for new forms of personhood, performances of subjectivity, and resistance to emerge. This paper addresses both the conditions that enabled the development of digital aripiprazole as well as the possibilities and limitations it may bring to health providers and service-users.

摘要

美国食品和药物管理局 (FDA) 最近批准了首个“数字药物，一种嵌入传感器 (Abilify MyCite) 的抗精神病药（阿立哌唑），可跟踪有关药物摄入以及活动水平和情绪模式的数据。在本文中，我们确定了促进针对精神病患者销售的数字药物的开发和监管批准的金融和社会政治驱动因素。我们探索了这种设备模糊药物、机器和思想之间区别的新方法。讨论了数字阿立哌唑掩盖和加剧社会不平等影响的风险。然而，我们也考虑了这种数字精神药物可能允许新的人格形式、主观性表现和抵抗出现的可能性。