McKinsey Global Institute recently published a report called “Disruptive technologies: Advances that will transform life, business, and the global economy.” The report cited 12 specific technologies whose development that, by the year 2025, are projected to have an economic impact valued between $14 trillion to $33 trillion annually.One of those technologies, 3D printing, is expected to have an especially profound impact on the medical device industry. Another disruptive factor cited by McKinsey was wearable technology, a trend that has now evolved into “ingestible technology,” a field that has massive potential for the medical device industry.
As Katy George of McKinsey told the online magazine Line//Shape//Space when asked about the disruptive effects of new technology on the medical device industry:
“The promise is big, but it hasn’t been realized yet,” she says. “It’s still kind of playing at the edges. But it’s already pretty core in some medical-product spaces,” such as dental implants and other noninvasive devices like prosthetic limbs.
3D Printed Replacement Joints
3D printing is one of the biggest, and most disruptive, emerging medical device industry trends. In a 2014 article in The Baltimore Sun, Dr. Barry Waldman described the benefits of using 3D printing technology for joint replacements, a technique he has used for an estimated 100 knee replacements.
Unlike traditional knee replacements that come in a range of pre-made sizes and configurations, Waldman uses a CT scan to create a “3D map of the knee, hip and ankle.” The custom blueprint generated from a patient’s body is then used to precisely create custom-made replacement joints via a 3D printer, one sub-millimeter layer at a time.
Bio-Printed Organs
As 3D printing grows in popularity with the medical device industry, so too does the desire to expand into the creation of organs, such as lungs, kidneys, hearts, and other vital organs. The growth in the capability of 3D printing technology is driving innovation that aims to supplement the shortage of available organ donors for prospective transplant recipients with 3D printing human organs.
However, the tantalizingly real prospect of bio-printed human hearts and other organs is already raising legal and ethical questions related to the patentability of such innovation. Are artificially made human organs, produced using biological materials and 3D printing, a patentable technology? With billions of dollars potentially at stake, there are heavily vested interests that will undoubtedly be battling over the issue in years to come.
Beyond Wearables… Ingestible Technology
In order to better analyze the health of internal organs, processes occurring inside of the body, and internal reactions to medication, Proteus Digital Health developed a digestible sensor to assist physicians.
These digestible sensors and a patch on the patient’s stomach are designed to transmit behavioral and physiological metrics such as pulse, body position, and activity that can be shared with their treating doctor through a mobile app.
According to a recent article on MaRS, “the global smart pills market is expected to reach $965 million by the year 2017.” Beyond Proteus Digital Health, there are a growing number of medical device manufacturers moving into the field of ingestible sensors and so-called “smart pills” capable of transmitting vital signals from inside the human body.
With so much upheaval on the horizon in the medical device industry projected to occur, the only constant for the foreseeable future appears to be more change.
Andrew Armstrong is a technology enthusiast and digital marketing adviser based in the San Francisco Bay Area. A graduate of U.C. Berkeley in 2003, Andrew now lives in San Mateo, California with his wife and young son. Follow him on Twitter at @kickstartsearch
