Six disruptive technologies that the healthcare industry should recognise and adopt to succeed in future. By M Neelam Kachhap
Business owners now know that these technologies offer tremendous opportunity to capture new markets. On the other hand, they are the single largest threat to the existence of a company. However, today we see new technologies evolve every day. Each promising to be better, a breakthrough that will radically alter our existence. But all technological advances do not live up to the initial hype. Only a few truly have the potential to alter our reality.
Recently, a McKinsey Global Institute report listed 12 technologies that could alter our business and social landscape and drive massive economic transformations and disruptions in the coming years. Based on this list we highlight the technologies that will impact Indian healthcare and bring a drastic change in the way we experience healthcare.
These disruptive technologies are:
- The Mobile Internet
- The Internet of things
- Advanced Robotics
- Next-generation genomics
- 3-D Printing
- Advanced Materials
Mobile Internet
India is one of the largest global markets for mobile devices and associated apps. One study (Mary Meeker report) claims that more people in India access the Internet via mobile devices than with PCs. Mobile Internet use is driven by increasingly inexpensive and powerful mobile computing devices and pervasive connectivity which has great potential to improve delivery and raise productivity in healthcare.
Healthcare is one of the most promising services that stand to benefit from mobile Internet technology. Apart from mobile apps to track health related parameters sensors attached to mobiles could also monitor chronic diseases patients like heart disease and diabetes. Another opportunity to be explored is to provide training and education to healthcare workers, including professionals, administrative support staff, and others whose jobs require person-to-person interaction and independent judgement.
The ‘Ananya’ programme, run by BBC Media Action in collaboration with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in eight districts of Bihar, aims to reduce child mortality and improve maternal health in the state. The programme uses mobile Internet to provide training via ‘mobile academy’ and an interactive health related guide to community healthcare workers who look out for 27 million child-bearing age women in the state.
Internet of things
Internet of Things technology has given wings to the Quantified Self concept, which allows an individual to monitor his own health and well being. An increasingly popular trend powered by Internet of Things technologies allow consumers to track the number of miles they run, their heart rate, and other data generated during exercise, which can then be used to manage health. In fact, doctors now perform ‘capsule endoscopy’ using a pill-shaped micro-camera with wireless data communication capabilities that travels through a patient’s digestive system and transmits images to a computer. This allows a doctor to make informed decisions for the treatment of the patient.
Additionally, Internet of Things technology will revolutionise the real-time patient monitoring at hospitals. Experts believe that a nurse could gain 30-60 minutes per day by using this technology for patient monitoring and thus be more efficient.
Additional value from use of Internet of Things systems in healthcare would include counterfeit drugs. Experts believe that currently, more than $75 billion worth of counterfeit drugs are sold per year, and that amount is growing by around 20 per cent annually. By using sensors on bottles and packages which could be checked by consumers one could avoid buying counterfeit drugs. The report estimates that this technique could apply to 30 to 50 per cent of drugs sold and could be successful 80 to 100 per cent of the time.
Next-generation Genomics
It took 13 years to complete human genome project, but today with the help of advanced computational and analytic capabilities genome sequencing has not only become quick but cheap as well. Experts believe that low-cost desktop sequencing machines could be used for rapid diagnostics and customised treatments. In the next phase, the technology could be used to write DNA sequences and build custom organisms. These advances in genetic science could have a profound impact on medicine, notably by speeding up the drug-discovery process.
Cancer has been the main focus of geneticists apart from genetic disorders; but now researchers are focussing on mutations linked to other diseases and finding out how mutations and environmental factors coerce a disease.
Personalised medicine are now in the pipeline. Studies have shown how specific cancer-causing mutations correlate with responses to different cancer treatments and there is a healthy pipeline of bio treatment and diagnostic drugs. According to the report, given the rate at which drugs fail during testing, it is not likely that the number of drugs used with companion diagnostics over the next five years will rise rapidly. Personalised treatments for cardiovascular disease is in the horizon. Every patient responds differently to the mix of medicines they are exposed to, and today high-risk patients are often treated using preventive medications with dosages adjusted on a trial and error basis, creating high risks. While the technology is still in the early stages, genetic testing could help doctors determine dosages and mixes of substances more precisely. Also, screening can enable customised preventive routines (lifestyle changes, for example), as well as tailored treatments.
Advanced Nanomaterials
Pharmaceutical companies are already making progress in the use of nanoparticles for targeted drug treatments for diseases such as cancer. Experts believe that the large surface area and high reactivity of many nanomaterials could make them powerful diagnostic tools for many diseases, including cancer. Nanoparticles can also be used to create potentially lifesaving medicines that can target specific tissues or cells. This can create therapies that are more effective and reduce harmful side effects. For example, researchers are working on ways to use gold and silver nanoparticles, as well as liposomes (nano-sized bubbles made from the material of cell membranes) for targeted drug delivery. Nanomaterials can be combined with cancer-killing substances and then delivered to a tumour in a more precise way than current options, reducing the damage to healthy cells and other side effects of conventional chemotherapy.
As per the McKinsey report, in late 2012 AstraZeneca announced that it is developing a treatment that uses gold nanoparticles to convey the cancer-killing drug TNF (tumour necrosis factor) to specific cancer sites. TNF is normally highly toxic but might be safely delivered using nanoparticles because it would be targeted directly to tumours. Nanoparticles can be used to target cancer cells passively (by taking advantage of these cells’ increased tendency to absorb such particles relative to normal cells) or actively (by attaching molecules designed to specifically seek out or bind to cancer cells, such as peptides). The application of advanced nanomaterials for medical purposes has relatively high potential by 2025 given the types of advanced nanomaterials likely to be used, the limited quantities needed, the maturity of the production processes for these materials, and the high willingness of consumers.
Advanced Robotics
Likewise, new age prosthetics and exoskeletons are able to take precise directions and make increasingly accurate and delicate movements. Today, new interfaces have been developed that can operate robotic limbs using small electrical signals produced when muscles contract or signals from nerve endings or even brain waves. The day is not far when these prosthetics will be equal to or better than the natural limbs and people start using them for intricate or dangerous work. Who can forget the amplified mobility platform (AMP suit) worn by Avatar’s villian or the Iron Monger worn by Iron Man .
Currently, robotic surgery in India is in its infancy. There are only 13 robots for a country with a population of over one billion. India is ideally suited for robotic surgery as the surgeons are skilled, the patient volume is high and a full spectrum of complex diseases are encountered. In India particularly, multi-speciality robotic surgery has a great future.
The study indicates that by 2025 there could be more than 50 million people with impaired mobility in the developed world, including amputees and elderly people, for whom robotic devices could restore mobility, improve quality of life, and increase lifespan.
3-D Printing
| Wake Forest research fellow, Jaehyun Kim demonstrates skin printing technology on a mock hand |
When Dr Anthony Atala from Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, US demonstrated a technique to print kidney using a 3D printer, two years ago, he gave new hope to patients waiting for organ transplant. Proposing a new possibility in regenerative medicine, Dr Atala believes that 3D printing could solve the organ donor problem and save lives.
3D printing technology is known as additive manufacturing. As the name suggests, in this process objects are build by adding material layer-by-layer rather than through molding or subtractive techniques (such as machining). Today, 3D printing can create objects from a variety of materials, including plastic, metal, ceramics, glass, paper, and even living cells.
Organ on demand is no longer science fiction. Organs, tissue and medical implants can very well take shape in laboratories. From custom implants to tissues for degenerative diseases, the possibilities are fascinating. Taking the design from a CT scan the 3D printer converts a 3D image to a finished part or product.
3D printing is expected to have a broad impact on consumer products and industrial tooling, but its most dramatic impact could be in healthcare. The market for complex, low-volume, highly customisable parts, such as medical implants would be very large in future. Also these products could cost 40 to 55 per cent less due to the elimination of tooling costs, reduction in wasted material, and reduced handling costs.
|
References: Disruptive technologies: Advances that will transform life, business, and the global economy http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/business_technology/disruptive_technologies |
Image Courtesy: Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine