The Pill Bottle Project

January 25, 2021 9:30 AM

Kait Sanchez on how TikTok users crowdsourced and manufactured a new pill bottle design that makes it easier for people with Parkinson's disease to dispense tiny pills (The Verge). "[Choi found the device] not only cuts down the amount of time it takes him to grab a pill, but also significantly reduces the frustration and anxiety that usually come with it. Stress makes the symptoms of Parkinson’s worse, but with this bottle, “the anxiety level goes away,” he says. “The time it takes, and your risk of spilling these pills out on the floor in public, it’s almost zero.”
posted by adrianhon (25 comments total)

That’s a pretty cool thing, TikTok being used for good this way.
Also, it’s pretty shocking that the pharmaceutical industry had not come up with a design like that in the first place.
posted by bitteschoen at 9:58 AM on January 25, 2021 [5 favorites]

I spent about thirty minutes on TikTok last night trying to make it "work" and I can't do it. It's hard to find users. It's hard to just look at their stream. I want to just see the people that I "like" that is like Instagram but I haven't figured that out yet. Instagram is also horrible. And despite having three Instagram accounts (person, business, non-profit) I still haven't figured out how to use it in a way that doesn't feel like I have ham hands.

My point being - it's amazing to me that people can use TikTok to organize anything. I'm only on it to try to keep up with my kiddo and the weirdos. I loved the point about how people often design for the differently abled and not with them. While Choi's experience is similar to one other people might have and is very relatable, it's not the same.
posted by amanda at 10:07 AM on January 25, 2021 [3 favorites]

Also, it’s pretty shocking that the pharmaceutical industry had not come up with a design like that in the first place.

The articles written about this don't get into it, but there are extremely drastic differences in the way you would manufacture a few of these via 3D printing, and how a pharma company would need to make literally millions of them via injection molding or whatever.

But, lots of stuff gets invented everyday by one person (or a small group of people) trying to solve a personal problem via a novel solution. That's often more effective that teams sitting around thinking "how can we solve a general problem for millions of people??"
posted by sideshow at 10:16 AM on January 25, 2021 [1 favorite]

I want to just see the people that I "like" that is like Instagram but I haven't figured that out yet.

You are trying to put a square peg in a circular hole. The "stickiness" of the TikTok platform and the reason for its success has a lot to do with exactly all the mechanics you are fighting against.
posted by sideshow at 10:19 AM on January 25, 2021 [7 favorites]

So, am I missing something or does the article not actually link to any of the printable STLs? I mean I guess I could make a tiktok account to see comments to follow the link there, but ugh.
posted by Kyol at 10:27 AM on January 25, 2021 [1 favorite]

Also, it’s pretty shocking that the pharmaceutical industry had not come up with a design like that in the first place.

I'm kind of glad they haven't, because if it's anything like auto-injectors with epinephrine, you're mostly paying for the patent on the auto-injector.

The pharmaceutical industry being behind it would mean they would force you to use the special bottles and that their manufacture of them would increase the cost of these drugs tenfold.

Not because it actually costs tenfold to produce them, but because money, you know?
posted by deadaluspark at 10:42 AM on January 25, 2021 [4 favorites]

Here are some STLs, but I'm not sure if either is canonical.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4719834

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4707051
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 10:43 AM on January 25, 2021 [4 favorites]

@Nonsteroidal - Based on comments in Thingiverse, https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4719834 is the one to go with if you're going to print. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4707051 is someone's copy of the original (outdated) files.
posted by Seboshin at 10:54 AM on January 25, 2021 [3 favorites]

Damn, I don't have anything that creates motor control problems, and I sure wouldn't mind having a few bottles like this for my pills. Normal pillbottles just are not easy to snag one or two pills out of, especially when you're half-asleep with your glasses off, and it's always a thing I have to make myself deliberately focus on not fucking up.

(Pillcases can work pretty well but my life just does not seem to be at a point where that's the right thing for me.)
posted by egypturnash at 10:55 AM on January 25, 2021 [3 favorites]

People sometimes get so swept up in the excitement of making a thing to help disabled people that they forget to actually consult with any.

If that could be the motto for our Makers Making Change initiative without sounding snarky, it probably would be. Remembering that the device represents a positive outcome for a particular person is the only goal. I mean, the price of PLA filament peaked last summer because of the demand from folks 3d printing faceshields (which may have had some minor usefulness) and respirator components (which did not).

3d printers that anyone can afford are also not food-safe. Sanitizing 3d prints from filament printers is difficult, and PLA is basically concentrated bacteria food.
posted by scruss at 10:58 AM on January 25, 2021 [5 favorites]

> I still haven't figured out how to use it [Instgram/TikTok] in a way that doesn't feel like I have ham hands.
I also have trouble using these platforms. I think the problem is that I expect to control what I see, and these platforms are specifically designed to take away control from the user, and encourage passive acceptance of whatever the algorithm deems most engaging / profitable for the corporation.
posted by mrgoldenbrown at 11:13 AM on January 25, 2021 [6 favorites]

For me, TikTok is the digital equivalent of flipping through channels. The algorithm has, at least for me, been pretty good at giving me stuff that I find interesting (cooking stuff, home inspections, ADHD-related content, linguistics trivia, etc). I found a guy who was explaining how Feng Shui works, and a lady processing leaving her far-right evangelical church with little cartoons (which is extremely specifically interesting to me as somehow who went through the same struggle, but without the art skills).

I have to imagine TikTok primarily acted as the way these people who worked on the pill bottle found each other, and not how they actually communicated through the project. It's great for giving you a flood of new and interesting and sometimes oddly specific videos, but it would be terrible for trying to communicate technical information.
posted by JDHarper at 11:32 AM on January 25, 2021 [1 favorite]

TikTok has an algorithmic feed, and a people-you-specifically-follow feed. So you can kind of have it either way. Though it always makes me anxious because I am certain the algorithm doesn't really have my actual interests in mind. It's trying to make me stay in the app longer so it can push more monetizable shit at me. So the longer you hesitate on any video (yes it monitors you down to the second) the more of that kind of thing you'll get. I really do want a bit more control than that....
posted by seanmpuckett at 11:44 AM on January 25, 2021 [1 favorite]

The design seems specific to a single pill size:

> Current pill size is for 8mm diameter x 4mm thick.

Which might prevent it from being mass-produced for pills of all shapes and sizes.

On the other hand, it doesn't seem like there are regulations on pill bottles, so big pharm companies can't block this from being sold or requiring some kind of immense regulatory fee.
posted by meowzilla at 11:59 AM on January 25, 2021

scruss: Sanitizing 3d prints from filament printers is difficult, and PLA is basically concentrated bacteria food.

PLA is not great for objects that will come into contact with food, but there are other materials available (e.g. PETG is printable by many/most home 3D printers and is food safe and dishwasher safe). Due to the layering you can end up with small holes or cracks where bacteria can linger so I'd personally be leery of using it for long-term food contact, but for something like a pill bottle that would be less of a concern for me personally -- just run it through the dishwasher every so often.
posted by fader at 12:01 PM on January 25, 2021

Which might prevent it from being mass-produced for pills of all shapes and sizes.

This is obviously really easy to deal with when 3D printing a single bottle. An injection molded version could either be available in an assortment of sizes or could come with interchangeable plates. Or they could be user (pharmacist) modifiable. EG: I get a weatherproof electrical cover that fits 16 different device shapes via punching out different shapes on three plates. Another cover fits another 70 different combinations with a pair of inserts.
posted by Mitheral at 12:20 PM on January 25, 2021

(Possibly UK or EU centric) I'm struggling to remember the last time I saw prescription tablets loose in a bottle. They all seem to be blister packs these days. Is this a US, or ROTW, thing?
posted by StephenB at 12:53 PM on January 25, 2021 [2 favorites]

>Due to the layering you can end up with small holes or cracks where bacteria can linger so I'd personally be leery of using it for long-term food contact

The latest trick in the 3D printing community is packing solid (100% infill) parts in powdered salt and baking them at a high temperature. It's a low-effort way of recasting the plastic, and you end up with a truly solid part.
posted by CaseyB at 1:24 PM on January 25, 2021 [1 favorite]

→ PETG is printable by many/most home 3D printers and is food safe and dishwasher safe

But the PETG filament you buy isn't food grade, and none of the filament path in your printer is, either. We keep an eye on mouth-safe printing at work because it would be a huge benefit for our users. It's not there yet.
posted by scruss at 2:35 PM on January 25, 2021 [2 favorites]

StephenB, the only prescription pills I’ve ever gotten in a blister pack in the US were birth control. Fancy pharmacies can custom-blister, I think, and a few people do it at home, especially someone setting up a complicated meds regime for someone without regular skilled care. I think plastic reusable pill-cases with snap lids are far more common here for the latter case, though.
posted by clew at 3:38 PM on January 25, 2021 [1 favorite]

Blister packs only solve some of the problem as you still need to get the pill from the pack to your mouth. The shot glass action is half the genius of this bottle.
posted by Mitheral at 3:55 PM on January 25, 2021 [2 favorites]

So having printed the caps and the base of the body, I'll hand it to the designer that it's pretty well designed for printing. No terrible overhangs, no slightly-too-thick walls that are annoying to fill, 4 shells with a 0.4mm nozzle and that's all she wrote.

Now, whether or not it'll delaminate on layer lines as soon as I press the base onto the body, eh. This natural PLA isn't the strongest of stuff...
posted by Kyol at 6:08 PM on January 25, 2021

This is so brilliant.

I really want to send this to the companies that make some of the "on-demand" (rescue) therapies for PD. There is a Epipen style autoinjector that has 15 fiddly steps to inject, with diagrams that rival IKEA. Or there's an inhaler whose creepy Sim spokesman warns you at the start of the 11 min instructional video that it "may take some practice at first" (watch the video and you'll see that this is the understatement of the century). Or a sublingual dissolvable film that comes in a little plastic carton like a Listerine pocket mint. All of these are terrible for real-world use, even if the patient has a kid/spouse/partner/caregiver to help.

My favorite is a pump where the company didn't care enough to design an actual pump, and instead reused the CADD pain management pumps you see in the hospital where they live on IV poles. At least they recognized that people aren't going to want to be chained to an IV pole all day, so instead they send you a fashion-forward fanny pack! And then they wonder why their sales are like zilch.

Or maybe the brain stimulator controller that has two on/off buttons -- one for the controller, one for the whole stimulator system -- and the bigger/easier to push one TURNS OFF THE WHOLE SYSTEM.

So yeah, the next time a drug rep emails me "for a little of your time" (barf) I'm going to send them this TikTok and tell them to come back after they talk to the patient community about co-designing a delivery mechanism.
posted by basalganglia at 6:13 PM on January 25, 2021 [2 favorites]

I’m so glad someone has written about this! Design has always been the last consideration when making things for disabled and chronically ill people.
posted by ellieBOA at 12:01 AM on January 26, 2021 [3 favorites]

So I printed one of these: and it came out rather well: Make of Accessible Pill Bottle by scruss. A decent amount of thought has gone into it. It's quite a long print (> 4 hours, even for the short version) but is pretty solid.
posted by scruss at 1:39 PM on January 26, 2021 [2 favorites]