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Cleveland
Clinic Unveils Top 10 Medical Innovations for '07
Ten Emerging Technologies Will Shape Healthcare
Next Year, Hospital Predicts
11/13/2006 Cleveland Clinic Today
Last week, Cleveland Clinic announced its first-ever
Top 10 Medical Innovations list, highlighting technologies
that will likely have a big impact on healthcare in
2007.
The list, selected by a panel of Cleveland
Clinic physicians and scientists, was unveiled during
Cleveland Clinic’s 2006 Medical Innovation Summit
Nov. 6-8.
Using state-of-the-art technology and
evaluating next-generation products has long characterized
Cleveland Clinic physicians, says Christopher Coburn,
Executive Director of CCF Innovations. "Their passion
for getting the best care for patients drives a continuous
dialogue on what technologies are just over the horizon.”
The Top 10 Medical Innovations
for 2007:
1. Cancer Vaccines: These targeted
therapies are being used to prevent cancer and treat
patients more specifically according to the type of
cancer they have. One example of a cancer vaccine is
the HPV vaccine developed to prevent cervical cancer
caused by human papillomaviruses.
2. Designer Therapeutics Using
Selective Receptor Antagonists: Creating therapeutics
to block receptor activation that leads to improved
patients' outcomes. Examples include therapeutics that:
block the peripheral side effects, such as constipation
and nausea, of opioid medications for pain which can
adversely affect patients and lengthen hospitalizations;
control the body’s stress response to mediate
eating and smoking; increase good cholesterol using
niacin.
3. Neurostimulation for Psychiatric
Disorders: Neurostimulation, such as Deep Brain
Stimulation (DBS), is emerging as a significant treatment
option for millions of Americans who are suffering from
Treatment Resistant Depression and Treatment Resistant
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
4. OCT (optical coherence tomography):
This is a noninvasive imaging technology used in the
treatment and diagnosis of eye diseases, such as diabetic
retinopathy and macular holes.
5. Bronchial Thermoplasty (BT):
This therapy is used to ward off asthma attacks. BT
involves the controlled application of heat in the lungs
to improve pulmonary function and reduce asthma symptoms.
Approximately 20 million Americans suffer from asthma,
according to the American Lung Association.
6. Ranibizumab: This
drug therapy inhibits uncontrolled blood vessel formation
in the eye, which is the primary cause of age-related
macular degeneration, the leading cause of new blindness
in older Americans.
7. Endografting: This
is a minimally invasive repair technique traditionally
used in cardiology and now being used to treat vascular
disease, such as thoracic abdominal aneurysms.
8. Targeted cancer therapies:
Using second generation, small molecule tyrosine
kinase inhibitors to block or modulate disease and provide
treatments for advanced cancers, such as renal cell
carcinoma (RCC). Clear cell carcinoma is the most common
type of kidney cancer which represents 2 percent of
all adult cancers.
9. Left Ventricular Assist System
(LVAS): This is the first implanted ventricular
assist device (VAD) that senses when to increase or
decrease the rate of blood flow. The device takes over
most of the function of the left ventricle, the heart's
main pumping chamber, and helps generate the force necessary
to propel oxygen-rich blood throughout the body.
10. Convection-enhanced delivery
(CED) of drugs: This emerging drug delivery
method is being used to administer medication directly
to the site where it is needed, without exposing the
rest of the body to a drug’s effects.
Marc Penn, M.D., Ph.D., Chair of the
Bakken Heart Brain Institute, chaired the project and
moderated the panel at the Summit. “For patients
and healthcare providers, the Top 10 list is an example
of significant technologies that will help to fight
many conditions for which there have been limited or
non-existent treatment options,” said Penn.
Four major criteria served as the basis
for qualifying and selecting the Top 10 innovations.
To receive consideration, a nominated innovation was
required to:
- Have significant potential for short-term
clinical impact (either a major improvement in patient
benefit or an improved function that enhances healthcare
delivery).
- Have a high probability of success.
- Be on the market or close to being
introduced.
- Have sufficient data available
to support its nomination.
The Top 10 Medical Innovations for 2007
were announced Nov. 7 at the 2006 Cleveland Clinic Medical
Innovation Summit. A panel of eight Cleveland Clinic
thought leaders and a moderator discussed each technology
and its reason for inclusion during a panel session.
In developing the Top 10, Cleveland Clinic
enlisted the expertise of AlixPartners, LLC, an independent
international management consulting firm. AlixPartners
led the process to probe the opinions of Cleveland Clinic
physicians and researchers, create a field of nominated
innovative technologies for consideration, and develop
a consensus perspective on what will be the Top 10 for
2007.
For more information about the 2006 Medical
Innovation Summit and the conference agenda, visit clevelandclinic.org/innovations.
CCF Innovations, the technology commercialization
arm of Cleveland Clinic, organizes the Medical Innovation
Summit and stewards the Clinic’s technology innovation
strategy. It enhances product-oriented innovation throughoutCleveland
Clinic and transforms promising therapies, devices and
diagnostics into beneficial medical products, via spin-off
companies, licensees and equity partnerships. |
