The global healthcare industry growing at the rate of 4.82 per cent will gain impetus with new innovations and inventions in medicine. The convergence of advanced research, newer technologies and scientific interventions brought a new dawn of innovations in 2018
Attack tumour cells
Nearly 9.6 million deaths from cancer were recorded in 2018, which is much lower than the previous years. Nobel Laureates James P Allison and Tasuku Honjo discovered a new principle for cancer therapy focused on stimulating the inherent ability of the body’s immune system to attack tumour cells.
The concept of activating the immune system to attack tumour cells that emerged at the beginning of the 20th century evolved through intense research and took a new turn this year. The Nobel Prize winners for Medicine showed different strategies for inhibiting the brakes on the immune system, which can be used in the cancer treatment.
Artificial pancreas to manage Diabetes
Diabetes has emerged as one of the most prevalent Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) worldwide affecting over 425 million people. The innovation in the field of diabetes treatment took a new rise with Hybrid Closed-Loop Insulin Delivery System, popular as Artificial Pancreas.
After inventing various methods of insulin injection and monitoring, scientists have succeeded in devising closed-loop insulin delivery systems with an aim to change the treatment procedures. The new medical innovation establishes a direct communication between the insulin pump and glucose monitor. This enables blood glucose stabilisation and helps in making type-1 diabetes more manageable. The emerging technology is replacing the open-loop system of assessing required insulin consumption.
Trend of telemedicine
With the development of Artificial intelligence (AI), Big Data analytics, robotics, ICT and cloud-based networks, the healthcare services have extended to the patient’s home crossing all geographical barriers.
Moving ahead of just a communication channel between the specialist doctor and patients, telemedicine has taken many healthcare divisions under its purview with the help of Electronic Health Records (EHRs). This will have a complete health record of patients along with medical history, lifestyle habits, and other vital observations to help doctors in prescribing precision medicine. These blockchain based or cloud-based EHRs and is efficiently resolving the infrastructure concerns and doctor-population disparity across the globe. Australia is going to be the first nation to facilitate EHRs for all citizens in 2018.
Gene make-up therapy
2018 has witnessed medical innovations in the field of eye care with the introduction of new gene therapy for curing inherited retinal diseases. The new therapy will introduce curative genes through viral vectors into retinal cells to aid visual function improvements. This is expected to cure biallelic RPE65 mutations and other eye diseases that cause progressive vision losses and blindness. Gene editing technology CRISPR, which uses Cas9 protein to separate the flawed DNA and replaces an unflawed DNA is also proving successful in treating genetic retinal diseases. The gene makeup technology that ventured successfully in 2018 will evolve more in the coming times.
