INCREASING SAFETY IN MEDICAL TECHNOLOGIES

The imperative to develop safe medical technologies has never been greater. A number of major trends have contributed to this:

Greater Efficacy of Medicine
Modern medicine is a victim of sorts of its own success. We now have treatments that are so effective that a few deaths (even if absolutely miniscule) become unacceptable. The risk-benefit profile has shifted.

The Coming of Age of the Baby Boomers
The health-care system is being driven by the needs and expectations of the aging baby boomer generation, which tends to have higher expectations of service, higher expectations of outcomes and higher expectations of safety. The "miracles of medicine" are now taken for granted.

The Rise of Chronic Diseases
A combination of effective treatment for acute conditions and a longer lifespan is making chronic disease much more prevalent. The world of post-modern medicine is defined more by chronic conditions rather than by immediately life-saving acute interventions. The diagnosis of cancer, for example, implies less of a drama-filled surgery (where the patient either lives of dies) than by long-term treatment and management. While more people live with cancer today, that also carries with it the risk of long-term treatment and its associated aggregate safety risk.

Aggressive Prevention
Like the long-term treatments that come with chronic disease, we are also increasingly embracing the concept of aggressive prevention in which not only lifestyle changes but also medications (such as statins) are used to prevent diseases.