Comments on: Is the practice of medicine impeding medical innovation?

By: Patent Baristas » Friday IP Round-Up: Time Travel Edition

Patent Baristas » Friday IP Round-Up: Time Travel Edition — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:31:43 +0000

[...] medicine drug Herceptin had not been previously administered Herceptin’s diagnostic test, the BiotechBlog asks whether the practice of medicine is capable of keeping pace with medical innovation. This is [...]

By: Graeme

Graeme — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:36:03 +0000

The problem is that some of those patients which are HER2 negative still seem to respond to HER2 targeted therapy. This therefore renders a diagnostic test obsolete as irrespective if a patient is HER+ or – they will still be prescribed herceptin as there is a chance they will respond. A chance is all that a cancer patient needs.

Are there any other examples of doctors ignoring diagnostic tests of a similar variety? maybe warfarin??

By: Claire

Claire — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:38:14 +0000

I don’t believe that patients will have a problem with knowing that their doctor is screening their cancer for its ability to react to a treatment regimen.

I’m dumbfounded that clinicians wouldn’t institute a screening policy in order to provide proper treatment; I was under the impression that medicine was “evidence based”. New technologies won’t help if they’re not applied carefully.

In this example, there needs to be a common practice established. The drug companies have as much of a vested interest as physicians – it’s better for them if the treatment they’re selling actually works!

By: Hans

Hans — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:52:58 +0000

I feel like patients are a big part of this problem. Patients no doubt demand those antibiotics even if their doctors tell them they are probably useless. “As long as they are getting paid for by the insurance company, I’ll take ‘em.”

Doctors feel the pressure to prescribe what their patients demand, or else the patients will just go somewhere else!