The “Anabox smart” is no longer just an idea but a commercially available product. An important milestone was reached in 2025 when it was included as a medical device in the health insurance companies’ catalogue of medical aids. This means that health insurance companies can now cover the costs of purchasing the pill box. The box was developed in Halle with significant support from MLU’s Faculty of Medicine. “The idea came to me when my grandmother was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, and we were no longer sure whether she was taking her pills. I would never have been able to get the project up and running without the network at the university,” says Robert Gühne, managing director of the start-up “wirewire” that developed the box. 

The company is a part of the consortium “Innovation Region for the Digital Transformation of Nursing and Healthcare” (TPG), which aims to turn Central German coal mining region in Saxony-Anhalt, which is heavily influenced by structural change, into a model region for cutting-edge healthcare. The Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space will provide the consortium with up to 20 million euros annually for research and development projects up until 2033. The consortium is coordinated by the Faculty of Medicine, which provides accompanying scientific research to many of the projects. 

The story of the pill box is a prime example of the work that TPG is aiming to do. Digital technologies help to create new products and solutions based on a specific nursing or healthcare demand. According to Professor Patrick Jahn, responsible for nursing and healthcare research at the Faculty of Medicine and the scientific head of TPG, “Nowhere else in Germany is there a network like ours in the field of nursing care. The Anabox is a testament to how knowledge exchange between research, development and nursing care can work.” Start-ups like Robert Gühne’s are explicitly approached by TPG during the funding rounds and receive help in finding partners from healthcare and research. The steadily growing innovation network now has over 200 members. 

Gühne, with his company and pillbox, has been involved in the network for quite some time. Researchers at the university began supporting the start-up as part of “Translation Region for Digitalised Healthcare” (TDG, see info box), the predecessor of TPG, by connecting it with partners in the field such as the senior citizens’ association in Nauendorf and a nursing care provider in Petersberg, both located in the Saalekreis District in southern Saxony-Anhalt. Their needs and experience were directly incorporated into the development process. “It is invaluable to be able to just pick up the phone and call someone when you are confronted with a problem,” says Gühne. Gühne also relied on the network’s expertise when it came to the complex and drawn-out approval process for medical devices. 

Gühne has plans to improve the “Anabox” even further. Currently the pill box recognises when a container has been removed but is unable to detect whether or not the medicine has actually been taken. Gühne would like to use artificial intelligence to solve this problem. To do this, he is cooperating with researchers at University Medicine Halle as part of a newly funded TPG project. Using a camera and sensors, AI would check whether patients moved their hands in a specific motion towards their mouths. If not, the box would remind them to take their pills. 

Sonotec GmbH, a company based in Halle that produces ultrasonic measuring and testing devices, is also part of the TPG innovation network. The company joined forces with Dr Stefan Wiegand, a urologist in Halle, to develop the “Uroflow 2.0” system – in close partnership with Halle’s University Hospital. “Experience from the field of nursing was extremely important,” says Hans-Joachim Münch, co-founder and managing director of Sonotec until 2023. Currently up to twelve people are working on further developing the prototype. A patent has already been granted for the European market, and the process for the US market is underway. “The funding enables me to employ two research assistants to conduct the practical tests,” says Wiegand. 

Like the pill box, “Uroflow 2.0” solves a common medical problem. Difficulties with urinating can be early signs of a serious illness. However, it can be very difficult to precisely measure urine flow, in other words the volume of urine within a specific unit of time. It requires sensitive scales with a time measurement function, however hygienically cleaning them is challenging in day-to-day practice. “Uroflow” is aimed at enabling patients to take measurements at home using an ultrasound sensor. The results can then be viewed online and analysed by the attending physician. The device is a prime example of “digital health”, in other words the use of digital technologies in various areas of healthcare, which can also help solve healthcare shortages in rural communities. Home measurements such as these might relieve the burden on those affected and on healthcare professionals without compromising medical treatment. 

“Anabox” and “Uroflow” are representative of the work that will be carried out in up to 80 planned TPG projects located at the intersection between science, industry, healthcare and nursing. They demonstrate the huge potential that the network has to offer. According to Patrick Jahn, “Consortiums like these also ensure that we are aware of what the companies in the region need in order to drive innovation through research and to transform southern Saxony-Anhalt in a sustainable way.”

Further information at:
www.tpg-health.de