Healthcare NBIC

Top Healthcare Conversations of 2008

Many of the great healthcare thinkers and bloggers wrapped up 2008 with end-of-year considerations of the important developments in their fields, and some looked ahead with predictions for 2009. Here are the January 1, 2009 Health Memes from around the web:

Personal Genomics in 2008: the Year in Review  Genetic Future

From 2008 to 2009  ScienceRoll

Finding Venture Capital In 2009 Will Be Tough  Pharmalot

2009 Stem Cell Trendsetters in Neurology and Psychiatry  Brain Waves

The Future of Pharma  Health Beat

The Year in Bioethics: The Highs and Lows of 2008  Bioethics Forum

2008 in Review: Ethnicity Strikes Back  Dienekes' Anthropology Blog

HIT Predictions for 2009 on iHealthBeat  Health Populi

Best of Nanomedicine in 2008  Nanomedicinecenter.com

2009: Predictions Across the Web  ReadWriteWeb

Social Media Trends 2009, TrendsSpotting  ReadWriteWeb

Top 30 Brain Health and Fitness Articles of 2008  SharpBrains

Top 10 In 2008  Health Affairs Blog

Not Exactly Rocket Science Review of 2008 [Not Exactly Rocket Science]  ScienceBlogs Channel : Life Science

Top Health Search Engines of 2008 [Highlight HEALTH]  The Highlight HEALTH Network

The Year in Biomedicine  Technology Review Feed - Biomedicine Top Stories

Health and Health Care in 2009 -- a Year of Managing Risks and Wild Cards  The Health Care Blog

(See the final week of 2008 on the December 29 archive page.)

Three Inventions from Fischell

Award-winning medical inventor and philanthropist Robert Fischell spoke at the TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) conference about three disruptive healthcare innovations he's developing: an implantable early warning system for heart attacks, an electro-magnetic dampener for migraines, and a neurostimulator implant for preventing epileptic seizures.

(Click   to start.)

Fischell is responsible for the first implantable insulin pump, the rechargeable pacemaker, and highly flexible coronary artery stents. A physicist and engineer with three sons -- one cardiologist, one physicist and one MBA  -- as collaborators, he's the kind of natural-born inventor who takes obvious pleasure in making things work.

Real Time Monitoring for Dangerous Training

Lifeshirt, a telemetry strap developed by Ventura, CA-based VivoMetrics Government Services, monitors the ECG, blood oxygen saturation, temperature, and activity level of first responders and reports results wirelessly once-per-second to incident commanders. The devices link responder-to-responder in a mesh network or in a star topology

Lifeshirts were used last month in a $750,000 study of firefighters' training at the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute at the
University of Maryland. Wearing full turnout gear and breathing apparatus, 200 firefighters ran through a smoke-filled
obstacle course, extinguished a third-floor fire and "rescued" a 140-pound dummy from a  burning room.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security funded the study to try to reduce the number of deaths that occur in the training of firefighters. Training deaths accounted for 10 percent of all on-duty U.S. firefighter deaths in the past decade, despite a drop in the number of firefighter deaths overall. In a job where the prep work is almost as dangerous as the real thing, real time monitoring could make training camp a lot safer.

Affordable French Bloodsuckers

Last summer, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a French firm's application for the use of leeches (Hirudo medicinalis) as a medical device. By definition, "a medical device is an article intended to diagnose, cure, treat, prevent, or mitigate a disease or condition, or to affect a function   or structure of the body, that does not achieve its primary effect through a   chemical action and is not metabolized." Especially useful in reconstructive surgery like regrafting amputated fingers and toes, the leeches emit an anesthetic and an anti-coagulant into the wound as they suck until the patient's blood flow takes over.

The FDA didn't approve any old leech. The medical variety, imported from France by Leeches USA Ltd., are carefully born and bred in carefully controlled environments to eliminate the possibility of infections. They may be pedigreed, but at $10 or so per critter they are also one of the cheapest therapies in modern healthcare.

Inhalable Insulin in Phase 3 Trials

For everybody who hates needles, MannKind Corporation (MNKD) has initiated patient enrollment in its phase 3 safety trial of inhaled insulin in the United States.  The study will evaluate the pulmonary safety of the firm's Technosphere Insulin product in patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. An initial phase 3 efficacy study was announced in Europe in late 2004.

MannKind recently presented data at the American Diabetes Association from a completed phase 2b study showing significant reductions in HbA1c levels over a three-month period with no increase in the risk of hypoglycemia. The Company is in the process of scaling up its manufacturing facilities in anticipation of regulatory filings and commercialization. 

The MannKind inhaled insulin delivery system consists of a proprietary dry powder Technosphere formulation of insulin that is inhaled into the deep lung using a proprietary inhaler which utilizes single-use, disposable plastic cartridges containing Technosphere Insulin powder.

Novel drug delivery techniques like inhalable insulin and inhalable vaccine make it easier for patients or caregivers -- not just doctors -- to administer medications. The powder format travels better and typically requires less stringent refrigeration. In some cases, medicines previously delivered by a doctor's office injection could be delivered over the counter.

Mesh Wrap for Enlarged Hearts

Acorn Cardiovascular's CorCap Cardiac Support Device (at left, click to enlarge), a proprietary mesh wrap implanted around the heart, is intended to control the progression of heart failure by improving the heart’s structure and function. A proprietary multi-filament mesh knit of implant-grade polyethylene terepthaliate (PET-polyester), the device is now in clinical trials involving 300 patients with at 29 centers in North America. A recent report at the Late Breaking Clinical Trials Session of the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions indicated that CorCap reversed heart failure progression and improved patient quality of life.