A few months back I spoke at the Florida International Medical Exposition on patenting medical and dental innovations. I'd forgotten about the event until a recent gentleman called into our office and said he saw my medical patent video on YouTube.
Here is the video of my speech.
This last article wraps up our discussion of medical device trends.
In part one of this article, we talked about obesity and heart disease…two growing trends in America that will require new and innovative medical devices. You can read this article here.
In part two of this article, you learned about the growing threat of diabetes and how antibiotics can't keeping up with the evolution of bacteria…and what opportunities these two trends present to inventors. More on that here – link.
Today, we will look at one of the scariest and multi-faceted diseases today and the how to ease the blight of our aging population.
Medical Device Patents and Cancer
Cancer is responsible for roughly 562,875 deaths per year, making it the second leading cause of death in the U.S.
What's worse, the World Health Organization (WHO) predicts cancer rates could increase 50% by 2020. The reasons? Too much smoking, poor diets and infection.
Top 10 Cancers According to the CDC
The WHO suggests three ways to curb cancer related deaths.
"Action now can prevent one third of cancers, cure another third, and provide good, palliative care to the remaining third who need it, "said Dr. Paul Kleihues, Director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and co-editor of the World Cancer Report."
For inventors of medical devices, the third piece of advice "good, palliative care" could be a goldmine.
Obviously, there could be advances in chemotherapy. And any other sort of drug that treats cancer would be welcomed with open arms. There are varied forms of radiation therapy used. And cryosurgery…or using extreme cold to treat tumors sounds like an area ripe for improvements.
But those are after the fact.
There are opportunities for inventors to improve early detection methods. Specifically screenings. For example, advances in screenings for cervical and breast cancers have increased the odds for prevention and successful cure.
And the list goes on.
Medical Device Patents and Elder Care
Since 1960 the average American lifespan has increased by 8.6 years (to 78.4 years up from 69.8). With this growing elder population comes a greater tax on the nation's nursing homes or at home care options.
The latest census data (from 2007) shows 7.4% of Americans aged 75 and older lived in nursing homes in 2006, compared with 8.1% in 2000 and 10.2% in 1990. While the data are trending down, I'd bet that the global economic meltdown in 2008 has dramatically reversed this trend.
To make matter worse, most people who enter nursing homes can't even afford to be there. According to a 2007 USA Today article:
"The average nursing home patient runs out of money within six months and must go on Medicaid, Markwood says. That, she adds, "will not only bankrupt individuals but also the Medicaid system."
All these statistics add up to a sobering reality. The number of people in nursing homes is only going to grow and it will cost more money to keep them there.
So, where are the opportunities for inventors? I see two areas.
First, new patents for medical devices for people who opt for in-home care. At the core of these inventions will have to be making life easier for the caregivers. Think walk in tubs instead of tubs you have to step over. Or handrails for bathroom facilities.
Second, new patents for medical devices for nursing homes. These will have to focus on reducing operating costs for the homes. Maybe less expensive lift devices.
These medical trends are not going anywhere and could be an on-going goldmine for any smart inventor.
In part one of this article, we talked about obesity and heart disease…two growing trends in America that will require new and innovative medical devices. You can read this article here Medical Device Trends Part One.
Today, we will look two more large-scale health issues that will require new technology, innovation and patents.
Medical Device Patents and Diabetes
Coming in as the seventh deadly killer in the U.S., Diabetes claims roughly 71,382 lives per year. 17.9 million Americans live with diabetes. And another 2.5% of the population does not know they have the disease.
In fact, since 1988 there has been an across the board increase of instances of diabetes regardless of age, sex or ethnicity.
Diabetes is up in Every Category (Click for larger view)
Diabetes leads to greater incidences of heart disease and stroke, high blood pressure, blindness, kidney disease, neuropathy (disease of the nervous system) and even amputations.
And diabetes is a $175 billion per year (and growing) industry.
Surely, creative new patents and medical devices will need to be invented to fight this dreaded disease. What are some of the opportunities for inventors?
There are two types of diabetes. People are either born with type-1 diabetes, or they develop type-2 diabetes. Both versions result in the pancreas producing little or no insulin (a hormone needed to allow sugar to enter cells to produce energy).
Traditionally, diabetics are treated with insulin injections to supplement the lower amounts in the bloodstream. Perhaps there is some invention-in-waiting that is less painful/intrusive than injections? Or maybe you could invent an "insulin pill" that slowly releases insulin over the day? An insulin patch?
Medical Device Patents and Antibiotics
Nearly 100,000 people a year die from antibiotic resistant infections in the United States alone. And doctors are fearing it's only going to become more common.
The reason? Antibiotics are losing their potency.
Here’s why, human beings are a vastly complex creature. We have multiple systems for pumping blood, breathing air and sending electrical systems back and forth. Bacteria are so primitive they don’t even have a nucleus.
Our complexity betrays us. The simple antibiotics we’ve used for the last half century have prompted bacteria to evolve. To develop biological countermeasures that are rendering antibiotics harmless. This wouldn’t be a problem if we were still discovering new antibiotics. But the vast majority of antibiotics were developed over twenty years ago.
What can inventors do?
Inventing new antibiotics is NOT the answer.
I think the more lucrative area for inventors is preventing bacterial infection in the first place (if you’ve seen the explosion in antibacterial products over the last twenty years, then you know what I’m talking about).
More and more people will be scared by news accounts of these new “super-bugs” and will look for different ways to protect themselves.
That’s it for part two of this article. In part three we will look at the growing threat of cancer, and where the most help is needed…and…why you might want to consider how to help seniors live out their golden years.
Fifteen years practicing patent law, and I’ve seen hundreds of medical device ideas and patents pass through my office.
The nice thing about seeing all of these innovations in the early stages of development is watching how they grow and make a huge impact in the industry. How they ride trends and break ground on new ones.
Seeing as how this is a New Year and a New Decade, I thought I’d take a crack at guessing what the next biggest trends in medical device technology will be over the next few years.
I started by spending a few hours researching the hard numbers on some of the biggest health problems affecting American’s today. Then I took a stab at what I think is to come. Hopefully this will shed a little light to where new inventions will have the biggest impact (and where inventors will find the biggest opportunities).
Keep in mind these are just my best guesses. I may hit the nail on the head or my crystal ball may turn out to be a little fuzzy. Let’s begin with one of the biggest epidemics of the past fifty years.
Medical Device Patents and Obesity
According to CBS News, Americans spend about $35 billion a year on weight loss products.
And that number is sure to grow. The following chart shows the rate of increase of overweight and obese Americans since 1960. If you look closely you'll see that obesity has risen from about 12% of the population in 1960 to over 30% today!
Meanwhile, overweight individuals have hovered at about 30%.
What this means is that more and more people will be looking for creative solutions to lose weight.
So, where are the opportunities for inventors?
Obviously, products that help people lose weight. There are thousands of patents for different exercise machines and the market is littered with trademarked diet schemes and marketing approaches.
Also, I believe there will be more products that promise to keep the weight off in the first place. For example, at my local grocery store they sell a version of an avocado called a "slim-cado". It has about half the fat of a regular avocado. I'm not sure how they did this, but it sounds like a candidate for a patentable procedure.
And of course there are the drastic procedures like gastric-bypass which uses specialty medical device patented tools that could be improved.
And the market for medical device patents doesn't stop here. The growing obesity epidemic will create an even greater need for patents in other areas of medicine.
Medical Device Patents and Heart Disease
Heart disease accounts for roughly 616,067 per year, giving it the dubious distinction of being the leading cause of death in the U.S. The surprising thing about this number is that it is just a fraction of how many lives were predicted to be lost to heart disease.
Why is this?
Maybe it’s greater awareness of the hazards of smoking. Dietary changes. Or more exercise.
I think it’s because of greater funding for treatments and cures. A quick web search will return thousands of charities and donations that host venues to raise money for heart disease.
With that in mind, I believe research and development into medical devices to treat heart disease should be big business for years to come. And then of course there are the patents on the inventions and improvements to surgery devices (think stents for coronary artery blockage).
And don’t forget about post-surgery needs. The average hospital stay after heart surgery is 5-7 days. During this time there are all sorts of tubes, wires and diagnostic equipment involved, all of which can be improved (which I’m sure some smart inventor is working on right now).
In part two of this article we’ll see where the next wave of new medical devices will come from by exploring one of the fastest growing health problems in America…and…the commonly over-abused drug that is quickly losing effectiveness (and is in dire need or replacement).
Sources for this article:
CBS News: Diet Industry is Big Business
CDC: Prevalance of Obesity
CDC: Leading Causes of Death Stats
Enter keywords:
