Science invents edible doctors: QR Codes which can be eaten and solve many health issues

Copenhagen, February 8: A team of researchers from the University of Copenhagen, in collaboration with colleagues from Abo Akademi University in Finland, believe they’ve come up with a new solution to producing medicine with more accurate dosage: edible QR codes. Okay, maybe it’s not a radically different idea since you still have to consume something, but there’s more to it than how it gets into the body. And it’s probably easier to swallow than a tiny, unfolding robot.

The QR code is the medicine itself, as well as the label and description. As Natalja Genina, Assistant Professor at Department of Pharmacy and one of the researchers of the study, explains, the code enables the medicine to be tailored to a specific patient and the dose can be the exact amount they need.

Of course, QR codes are meant to be scanned, otherwise, they’re just pictures. When they’re scanned, they reveal all the information about the medicine. That includes what it is, and how much of it the code contains. Identifying the medicine should be just as easy as taking a picture, since everyone has a smartphone with a decent camera, and there is hundreds of QR code scanning apps for people to use.

 

Making it a scan-able QR code could also reduce the chances of people taking the wrong medication, or tricked into taking fake or expired drugs. These situations will be even easier to avoid once the team determines how to get an everyday inkjet printer to apply for the medicine as a QR code.