From the March 2017 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
Acquiring intellectual property
Usually, patented “path-breaking” innovations take shape in small organizations. Concurrently, large organizations hold intellectual property ownership in high regard, as it can offer a big competitive advantage. A key strategy the big players have adopted is to acquire patents and IP rights from the innovators in the market. The big guys are on an IP buying spree. They’re forging long-term partnerships for R&D-related purposes. New business operational models like co-ownership of IPs and knowledge sourcing are making an entry, especially in the health care industry, in a big way.
Drug-device combination products
Just under five years ago, patients would go to a hospital to get diagnosed for some illness, and receive treatment under the supervision of the best doctor in town. More recently, we’re starting to see that people are obtaining home health care services, as they don’t want to spend a lot of time in a hospital. The new buzzword that can be heard in medical device circles today is "theragnosis," a combination of therapy and diagnosis.
Theragnosis is made possible by combination products — products that are essentially devices, and also contain some form of treatment drugs, depending upon the targeted usage. Drug-eluting stents and continuous glucose monitoring are two of the most noted developments in this area. Developments in this area are so rapid that within five to 10 years, we might be looking at health care in a drastically different way. Technology is becoming a critical enabler in turning new care delivery models into reality.
When developing medical devices in the 21st century, technology must be leveraged to address the pressing needs of people (hospitals, physicians and patients alike) and not the other way around. On the communication technology front, we will see more wireless devices offering round-the-clock health care and seamless health status monitoring, thus enabling timely treatment. Convergence of wireless health care and mobile phones is no more a dream, with regulatory bodies such as the Food and Drug Administration and Federal Communications Commission considering the implications of using mobile phones as medical devices, among other technological advancements in the health care arena.
It is also worth noting that these trends all focus on reducing the overall cost of health care, while ensuring patient convenience at all times. The stakeholders have already taken this seriously and are striving to develop solutions that enhance the quality of life, and add a few more years to our average life span.
About the author: Bipin Thomas is a renowned global thought-leader on consumer- centric health care transformation.Back to HCB News
