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Medtech Issues in the 2012 Election Year |
FDA may be getting a bum rap as the prime suspect in killing medtech innovation. Despite being at the receiving end of countless, vocal accusations, the agency is not the biggest culprit in stymying medical device innovation after all, according to some industry professionals. Instead, partisan politics and politicians with their own agendas—especially in an election year—are increasingly standing in the way of developing and commercializing pioneering medical technologies.
Last week, MD+DI's sister site Qmed.com featured a piece discussing the passionate frustration expressed by renowned entrepreneur Dean Kaman at a recent roundtable discussion at MD&M East on the state of the medical device industry. Although Kamen did not absolve FDA completely of blame, he did place the majority of the blame for the current innovation-stifling environment squarely on the shoulders of media hype and politicians.
"If you listen to what a lot of our political leaders say, they believe that industry is a bunch of people that get together every morning and say: 'What new innovation can we make that is more expensive, less effective, and maybe can kill babies just gratuitously?" Kamen half-joked during the roundtable. "I've never met anyone in this industry that set out to make a more-expensive, less-effective potentially dangerous product." Kamen went on to also blame the medical device industry for not fighting back against rhetoric-spewing politicians and media hype to stem the tide of misinformation and properly inform the public about the advantages associated with innovative medical device technologies.
It appears that many medtech professionals are similarly frustrated by the current political environment. In a poll within the original blog post, a whopping 47% of respondents identified 'politicians with an agenda' as the biggest culprit in killing medical innovation as of the writing of this post. FDA actually trailed significantly behind with only 17% of the vote, and the media and the medical device industry both amassed 13% of the blame. The uninformed public—which Kamen cited as an unintentional but significant force in handicapping medical innovation—followed with 10% of the vote.
Obviously, all of the answer choices are contributing on some level to the ongoing struggle to get novel medical technologies to market. But with the constant barrage of complaints and accusations that rain down on FDA these days, it's a bit surprising that politicians came away from the poll with the lion's share of the vote. It seems like many people in the medical device industry and the general public alike are growing tired of the extreme partisan politics dominating the scene right now. Of course, it is an election year, so nothing is likely to change until after the votes are counted in November.
Head over to the original post and add your vote to the poll. Also, let us know which entity represents the biggest barrier to medical device innovation and why in the comments section. --Shana Leonard
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I received an interesting reader email regarding this post that I thought I would share:
"I think it is correct that OUR elected representatives (I use this phrase because we elected them and we need to take responsibility for their actions) are a significant barrier to continuing medtech innovation. Our Federal, State, and local elected representatives choose to balance Federal, State, and local budgets at the expense of education – K through 12 and universities. Why? ‘Cause it is a big, visible, and obvious part of the budget! But, medtech innovation requires, and will continue to require, a steady infusion of competent scientists, engineers, and business folks (yes, business, because we are talking about innovation, not just invention). Undermining public education stifles the production of scientists, engineers, and business folks – now and into the foreseeable future. And, there is a significant phase delay in the process; start pumping money into education after having let it languish for a generation or so, and it will take at least a generation or so for your newfound investment to bear fruit – assuming you are sufficiently well educated by that time to comprehend that is what you need to do. So, for every dollar that you take away from education today, you can figure some large multiplier in lost dollar value in medtech innovation in the near future. If this is not clear, reread Aesop’s fable about the grasshopper and the ants.
I am not talking about medtech entrepreneurs and executives enriching themselves at the public expense. When you get old and gray, who do you think is going to be providing the bleeding edge care and medical technology to help you reverse your declining quality of life? I am always confounded when folks say “I don’t have kids in school; why should I pay for it anymore?” Well, guess who is going to be your doctor, nurse, pharmacist, orderly, medtech entrepreneur, or medical device engineer when you need them? Right! The fundamentals of economics never change; you always get what you pay for, no matter how hard you try otherwise.
Also, have you carefully considered why it might not be a good idea to defund music and art education? Are you aware of the large body of scientific knowledge related to music education and mathematical skill (something that scientists and engineers need to develop, if they are to be competent)? How about all that human factors and usability stuff? Did you realize that all those designers doing “interface design” are practicing “art”?
It is true that our myopic elected representatives are a major barrier to medtech innovation. But I think we do ourselves a disservice by trying to shift the blame to them. We elected them; we, the commonweal, need to take responsibility, because in the end it is we who are always the recipients of their and our own poor judgment. No matter how wealthy you are, if some FDA-regulated firm is not making and marketing a better imaging technology, a better chemotherapeutic agent, or a better home healthcare device, your money gets you not much more than what the pauper walking into the ER gets – because, if it is not commercially available, chances are you can’t buy it.
--GM Samaras Pueblo,CO"
Very Accurate Article
This article is very true. Why is it that politicians think that they know enough about the Medical Device, Pharma, and Health Care industries to where they can write bills, that on the surface appear to have good intentions, but when enacted, have just the opposite effect? Politicians know nothing about the processes and their inter-action in these industries, yet they create and implement laws that govern, control, dictate, tax, suppress, sabotage, these same processes that are attempting to provide safe & efficacious products to health care professionals that are over worked in attempting to provide the best health care that they can provide, in spite of these new laws.
And the really insulting thing about all of this, is that Senators & Congressmen have their own special, the very best, health care insurance and dental insurance (Delta Dental Premier) that most of us cannot get and is not impacted by their own legislation.
Yes, Politicians are the Biggest Enemy to Medtech Innovation and also to The Quality of the Health Care That You Receive!