Before I delve into the content of this
week’s session, I would like to share a quote by Albert Einstein that Prof
shared with us during the session:
“There are only two ways to
live your life.
One is as though nothing is a miracle.
The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
- Albert
Einstein -
As I went into facebook after
class, a post by my friend caught my eye, it contained what she dubbed as one
of the most profound comic strips she has ever read. It is pretty long, so I’ll
just post the link: http://qph.is.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-8e37b9a1c08ec450b9e4fd0f7bb3b0e4
I felt that the comic somewhat reinforced one of the ideas inherent in the
quote above that is, that it is important for us to be open to new ideas and
innovations in this era where change is the only constant. We should never be
satisfied with the answers we have, and remain open to all possibilities. We should
never stop questioning the ways in which things happen, nor should we judge any
question or possibility prematurely. Some of the simplest and seemingly-obvious
questions are the deepest and most complex. Okai! Moving on to this session’s
topic.
Brief
Overview/ Introduction
This session’s topic was on the healthcare
and life sciences aspect of the massive Biobusiness Revolution. Biobusiness, as
defined in Prof’s slides, is any commercial activity that comprises of an understanding
of the life sciences and its processes, which encompasses these following
fields: Biomedical, Agri-veterinary, Environmental/Industrial, other areas.
Interesting
Observations & Ideas
We
centred upon the Biomedical and healthcare portion for this session, however,
before delving into that area, prof showed us a chart he did in 2011 which
shows the global market sizes of the different components of Biobusiness during
that period:
We
can see above that in Asia, especially the Southern part (India, Afghanistan,
etc.) nearly 50% of the biobusiness market is involved in Agriculture, which
includes the growing and cultivation of crops, both food and non-food based
(timber), and the rearing of aquatic animals and plants. The nature of
agriculture here is usually one that is mainly for sustenance purposes, which
typically consists of low-grade and cheap crops. Hence even though the people
in these countries are considered to be within the biobusiness arena, they earn
very low wages compared to those employed in the other sectors of the biobusiness
landscape. Another interesting observation pointed out by Prof is that although
the other areas generally vary according to total population sizes in the
different geographical regions, this pattern was majorly skewed when it came to
the healthcare sector. Despite its population size, the US spending in
healthcare comprises more than half of the global expenditure in that sector. This
shows another trend whereby the more developed a country gets, the increasing strains
of diseases are born and discovered, and this trend applies to all countries in
the world. Spending on healthcare will just continue to increase in the future.
There are countless summit opportunities in the field of biobusiness, especially
the key areas of Biomedicine, agri-veterinary & food, environmental &
indusrial, and other areas such as nanotechnology and bioengineering, but as
stated previously, we only focused on the biomedical portion for this session.
Subsequently,
Prof showed us a video on Microsoft’s vision of the future healthcare and asked
us if we thought it could be feasible or not. I think it could become a reality
within the next 10 years, or hopefully sooner, and I can’t wait! The visions
depicted in the video, once a reality, would immensely change and reshape the
entire medical service industry. One of the major benefits it will bring is the
reduction in opportunity cost of time wasted during patients’ waiting period in
long queues for consultations, as doctor would be able to give prescriptions
without having to see patients face-to-face. Also, it would eliminate the
hassle of traveling to and from hospital or medical clinics, which likewise
saves an immense amount of time that can be better used. In actual fact, we
already have the telecommunications infrastructure (Skype, FaceTime, etc.)
which makes remote face-to-face consultations possible, but they have yet to be
legally recognized and applied to the medical field.
This
is especially beneficial to patients with low immunity too, such as cancer or
elderly patients, who are susceptible to the numerous forms of illnesses and
diseases present in hospitals. Another interesting point in the video is the
part which shows how patients can be reminded to take their medications on
time, or be notified whether they have already taken it or not. I feel this
will be very helpful to those patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Ahaha…I
was also thinking how great this would be if it were present now, so we can
know whether my grandma, who refuses to take her medicines most of the time, is
lying or not whenever we ask her if she has already taken them. :B
We
then went through some of the main drivers of innovation and change in the healthcare
and biomedical sciences, which consisted of demographic and epidemiological
change:, the translation of the findings of R&D in the sector into clinical
and commercial application, advances in the information and bioengineering
technology, and changing consumer needs, demand and expectations. Prof cited
and showed us a video on the rising global problem of obesity as an example of
changes in consumer needs. Regarding
demographic and epidemiological change, we studied a graph showing the patterns
in communicable and non-communicable disease patterns in terms of the global
burden of these diseases:
We can see that for the majority of
world, chronic diseases have taken over infectious diseases, because infectious
diseases can be easily cured and prevented if you have the necessary technology
and medication for it. However, this pattern was reversed in the case of
Sub-Saharan Africa, where infectious diseases still reined over chronic
diseases. This is due to their lack of access to the appropriate technology
needed, mainly due to their limited purchasing power and the high cost of said
technology or infrastructure.
One of the opportunities in
biomedical sciences that Prof mentioned which particularly captured my
attention was the developments in DNA and genetic engineering. In the future,
patients could potentially alter their genes so as to decrease their likelihood
of suffering from a particular disease due to their genetic make-up. The females
in my mother’s side of the family has the BRCA1 cancer gene, so there is a
possibility that all my female cousins from my mom’s side and I have the gene
too…so I’m looking forward to the earlier than expected possibility of this
development heheheh. :B
There were a number of interesting
innovations and potential technologies presented during the individual
presentations portion of the section. One of them was on the topic of gene
sequencing, where Rebekah posed the interesting question of whether we would,
as future parents, want to be aware and notified about our babies’ increased
disposition to certain diseases. The class was majorly divided on this point. Those
who expressed that they would rather not know cited the main reason that there
is only an increased possibility of the child suffering from a particular
disease in the future, and that it is not a certain fact. They are concerned that
they might be taking unnecessary caution and therefore could potentially limit
their children’s potential. I am one of those who prefer to be notified,
because like them, I feel that if I could protect and prevent my child from
falling prey to a particular disease, I would rather not take any chances. Also,
in the case where I could be limiting my children’s potential due to the
precautions I make, to me, the keyword here is ‘could’. There is a 50-50 chance
that my child might have a talent for something, given that both outcomes are
equally likely, however, in the case of an increased disposition to a certain
disease, the probability of my child contracting that disease is higher, so it
makes sense to do something about it right? Hahahha. But of course that’s just
how I see it. Regarding Xindi’s presentation on Veti-gel, I was just thinking
how wonderful and incredibly useful this medication would be for patients
suffering from diabetes whose blood are less able to clot when they get fresh
open wounds.
Key
takeaway points:
To me, one of the key lessons this
session presents is the endless existence of possibilities and opportunities
not only in the context of Biobusiness, but in all areas of interest. It all
depends on whether we’re willing to see and believe in them, and to embrace
whatever changes they may bring.
Session
Rating: 8.5/10- Excited about the
numerous amazing opportunities and possibilities in the field of healthcare and
biomedicine!
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