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According to Dr. Patricia Mechael, executive director of the mHealth Alliance, in developing countries the average doctor-to-patient ratio is one doctor to every 250,000 patients. Yet these same countries account for 80% of mobile subscriptions worldwide. It’s no surprise, then, that mobile health technology has substantial potential to improve access to healthcare in the developing world.

I just read the minutes of the joint meeting EDMA, Eucomed, COCIR and EUnetHTA had last May and it got me thinking: why try to put a square peg in a round hole? Medical devices, in vitro diagnostics, imaging equipment and pharmaceuticals – while all health technologies – are very different in nature, in their mode of action, in the benefits they bring to people’s health and well-being, and in the way they contribute to sustainable healthcare. Because of these and many more differences, trying to apply a Health Technology Assessment (HTA) model designed for pharmaceuticals to other health technologies is like trying to shove a square peg into a round hole – it won’t work.

MedTech is transforming the world in which we live; we are healthier and more able than ever before. However, there are still a number of fundamental challenges that we face both locally and globally. The launch of the Longitude Prize 2014, with it’s £10 million prize fund, is seeking solutions to some of these fundamental scientific challenges. Antibiotics resistance, paralysis and dementia are on the shortlist of issues that could reap a £10m research windfall. The MedTech community has a vital and integral role to play, harnessing its power to innovate and accelerate towards the winning solutions!

“Nihil novi sub sole” said the Vulgate. That could not be farther from reality when it comes to the MedTech Europe blog. And I am privileged to be the first author to “lay pen to paper” and contribute to MedTech Views, an initiative by MedTech Europe to establish a true platform for dialogue about medical technologies. No priority is given to any one healthcare stakeholder, and everyone has the opportunity to submit their view as we strive to have an open exchange of opinions on the new platform.

The lure of wearable technology and its application to health is tremendous- so tremendous that even the richest company on the planet-Apple, can’t resist it apparently. And so goes the recent insider news that has captured the attention of people worldwide “Apple is developing software and sensors that can predict heart attacks”. Not so fast Apple, not so fast….

I overheard a debate at a breakfast meeting at the World Economic Forum Meeting of the New Champions in Dalian, China that went like this:

“The market won’t accept a malaria vaccine that costs more than $.40 a dose.”

“But that’s not possible, why can’t we just start solving the technical problem and then figure out how to pay for it?”

In Europe, health data are considered so sensitive that processing them is generally prohibited in the EU, unless that processing follows specific guidelines. For example, the prohibition does not apply when sharing data is essential to providing healthcare, where those data are handled by a Healthcare Professional (HCP) subject under national law and subject to professional secrecy laws. With the rapid growth in diversity of medical technologies though, more and more medtech companies are processing health data on behalf of HCPs. 

One central theme revolved around the Second World Health Organisation’s Global Forum on Medical Devices – the WHO recognises medical devices as an investment and not a cost. However, there is a mismatch between innovation of medical devices and public health needs.  677 participants from 108 countries took their pick from 28 workshops and 4 plenary sessions. Held on November 22-24^th in Geneva, the event enabled academia, international organisations, industry and NGOs to gain insight from 159 presentations, 144 posters (one of which was presented by EDMA on Lab Tests Online), and 8 films. 

Consider the cell phone.
As an engine of change, it is a romantically disruptive one, a technology that crisscrosses borders and thrives on connection in all its forms – to networks, to people, to the world. Already, in areas of Africa and India, mobile phones play every part at once, bankers and pharmacists and secretaries rolled into one. In developing countries, the path of least resistance to modernization is flung up one phone tower at a time. They have taken a platform we have spent on Angry Birds and advertisements, and woven a way of life.