Think we are kidding? Nope. The Dutch electronics company Philips, which is known for Webcams and cordless phones, has gone ahead and invented a battery-powered, programmable drug capsule it calls the “iPill,” The San Francisco Chronicle informs us.

The multivitamin-size “intelligent pill” has a microprocessor embedded and is designed to release its medicine at the specific spot in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract where it will do the most good, sparing the rest of the body from unnecessary exposure to the drug, the Chron writes. So far it’s just a prototype, but Philips is talking to drugmakers about using it on colon cancer and bowel inflammation.

The iPill has a wireless transmitter (sorry, no music) and sends dispatches about the temperature and acidity of its surroundings to an outside receiver as it travels through the GI tract over the course of a day or two. The acidity, measured by pH, of the gut decreases as the pill gets further from the stomach, and that allows researchers to pinpoint the place where the drug is needed, the Chron explains.

The iPill might make its commercial debut as a research tool for drug developers, at a cost of as much as $1,000 a pill, the paper adds, but the cost could come down to about $10 if thousands of people were taking iPills every day.

The plastic capsule contains a programmable microprocessor that turns on a miniature drug pump when the pH is right. The iPill can also receive signals from its outside controller.

Philips Research senior scientist Jeff Shimizu tells the Chron the company is expanding its health care business, and saw a natural opportunity to use its electronics expertise to improve drug delivery. A “camera pill” pioneered by an Israeli company is already in use to spy around inside the gut and help doctors diagnose illnesses.

While Philips’ smart pill is the same size as the camera pill - about an inch by a bit less than half an inch - Shimizu says Phillips may eventually be able to downsize the capsule by reducing its sensors to the scale of nanotechnology devices. But for now, Philips was just eager to get started. “We wanted something we could build right away,” he tells the paper.

Precise drug delivery inside the body is a hot research area. The tactic could treat illness more effectively and also could allow the use of lower doses that minimize side effects, the Chron writes. Philips recently announced efforts to test one of its medical imaging devices as a means of heat-activating a cancer drug that is enclosed in tiny temperature-sensitive bubbles. The ultrasound device would raise the heat slightly in tissues where it detects abnormal cells.

One possible problem is keeping the minute devices out of our water supply. To do so, sewage treatment plants might someday have to screen for iPills, he says. “If we’re selling millions of them, it could be an issue.”

The photo appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle