News
Food for Thought: Will IQWiG Go Medtech?
According to a report by Ärztezeitung, Germany’s healthcare cost watchdog IQWiG (Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care) is aiming to also bring the cost-benefit assessment of medical devices and procedures, such as operation techniques and laboratory diagnostics, under the scope of IQWiG and or G-BA, the highest decision-making body of the joint self-government of physicians, dentists, hospitals and health insurance funds in Germany.
Jürgen Windeler, head of IQWiG, told Ärztezeitung there was a “considerable discrepancy in terms of regulatory density” between drugs and all other therapeutic and diagnostic means in medicine. He therefore called for an early benefit assessment of these other methods, too, and suggested to start with medicinal products with the potential for causing a “health risk”.
Company News: Curetis Appoints Dr. Klaus Brinkmann as Director of Sales
– Preparation of CE-marking and product launch in Europe in 2012 –
Curetis AG, an innovative molecular diagnostics company focusing on the development and commercialization of in-vitro diagnostic products for infectious diseases, today announced that Dr. Klaus Brinkmann has joined its management team as Director of Sales.
Dr. Klaus Brinkmann is a seasoned executive with extensive commercial expertise in setting-up sales organizations and infrastructures and leading sales teams in very competitive markets. He has an outstanding track record in the commercialization of complex in vitro diagnostics (IVD). His experience covers instrument platforms as well as test kits in the areas of immunology, traditional microbiology and molecular-based infectious disease testing. He joins Curetis from BioRad Laboratories GmbH, where he has been Account Manager Lab Automation. Previously, he held various sales management positions with Becton Dickinson GmbH and Beckman Coulter GmbH. Klaus Brinkmann studied chemistry and holds a doctorate from Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany.
Food for Thought: Weekly Wrap-Up
Ulrike von Leszczynski in Die Welt introduces a novel submersible which can dive up to 6 kilometers deep but weighs only 500 kg. The 3,5 meter long “autonomous underwater vehicle” named DNS Pegel does not need a pressure chamber as it is being flooded when diving. Instruments and electronics have been developed to withstand the conditions and most are protected by silicone.
In Der Spiegel, Steve Ayan, editor-in-chief of Gehirn & Geist, interviews Florian Holsboer, director of the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry who explains how and why psychiatry will be revolutionized by tailor-made, personalized medicine to treat conditions such as anxiety, depression and others. Holsboer explains that psychiatric diseases are caused by a complex interplay between genes and environment in which the environment also influences the pattern of genes involved in a certain condition at a certain point in time. In the future, he predicts, “we will be able to generate biochemical snapshots using genetic tests and biomarkers.”
Marc-Denis Weitze in Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) introduces efforts by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Martinsried, the Natural and Medical Sciences Institute (NMI) at the University of Tuebingen and the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering of ETH Zurich in Basle to record the activity of neurons in neuronal networks – a challenging task as chips and electronics elements need to withstand salty solutions for months. The latest innovation is a chip providing 32,000 contact points on a 2.6 square millimeter area. Nicola von Lutterotti, also in NZZ, reports on US and Swiss studies looking into the causes of hospitalizations. In Switzerland, up to 7% were due to overdosing of medications (either by doctors or accidentally by patients) or prescriptions of medications without observing warnings on potential interactions given on the label.
In the New York Times (NYT), Nicholas Wade reports on the successful genetic therapy of six patients with hemophilia B. The disease was corrected by transferring a working version of the factor IX gene via the adeno-associated virus-8 (AAV-8). The article points out that the therapy did not work or ceased to work in some of the patients. In other patients, the factor IX is produced in sufficient quantities for up to 22 months so that they can live without medications.
The New Scientist this week features a study by researchers from the University of Freiburg, Germany, in which symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS) have been reverted in mice by injecting RNA oligonucleotides that stimulate the expression of interferon-B (IFNb). IFNb is known to be efficacious in humans with MS. However, 80% of people treated with IFNb injections develop antibodies against IFNb. If produced by the body itself the problem might be avoided.
And finally, “self-hacking” can be dangerous to your health, reports Klaus Vogt in Die Welt. Self hackers are promoting the “Quantified Self” movement and are recording, rating and sharing a wealth of body functions – from weight and blood pressure to feelings and data on sex and meditation – on a daily or even more frequent basis. While the movement already finds interest among medtech companies and data providers, medical professionals now warn that the underlying condition can become addictive. The akampioneer recommends software developers should program a meta app analyzing the quantified self data so that an addiction value can be posted on top.
Keeping an Eye on … Nanobiotix
French nanomedicine company Nanobiotix is featured in a one-page article by Susanne Kutter in this week’s Wirtschaftswoche. The article (not yet online) features the technology by Nanobiotix and its NBTXR3 compound which has been developed to enhance the local destruction of tumor mass during radiotherapy.
NBTXR3 is a nanoparticle consisting of hafnium oxide crystals. Once injected into the tumor, NBTXR3 accumulates in the cancer cells. Due to the physical properties of hafnium oxide, the particles emit huge amounts of electrons upon radiation. This leads to the formation of radicals within the tumor cell, which in turn damage the cancer cells and cause their targeted destruction. NBTXR3 particles are inert and emit electrons only during their exposure to radiotherapy. As a result, the destructive power of standard radiation therapy could be locally and selectively enhanced within the tumor cells.
In September, the company started a clinical trial of the compound which is regulated in the EU as a medical device.