“A noble purpose inspires sacrifice, stimulates innovation and encourages perseverance.” ~ Gary Hamel
But is a noble purpose enough to stimulate innovation these days? In every niche, innovation can only bring benefits, but sometimes, prevailing circumstances may not nurture a culture of innovation.
Let’s take a look at the medical and pharmaceutical industry, for example. Based on multiple studies by the NCBI, the cost of innovation in this industry can be astronomical, involving hundreds of millions of dollars, making it an almost insurmountable issue for the individual physician or even a group of physicians.
The result, according to Dr. Noah Minskoff is that “it almost creates this monopoly in which only a very small group of very large companies can afford to come to the party“.
While physicians may indeed earn more than the average person, that’s not to say that they – on their own – can match the funds needed to turn ideas into tangible innovations such as medical devices, technologies, and procedures.
That’s not to say that physicians today don’t have the capability to come up with innovative ideas. However, the technological know how and economics may not allow those ideas to become reality.
“The vast majority of ideas die before they ever leave the mind of a physician, because doctors often lack any understanding and certainly very few have any formal education on the process of creating a novel technology for market consumption,” says Dr. Noah Minskoff.
This is backed up by data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which point to the fact that “most inventions are the collaborative effort of scientists and engineers, usually researchers affiliated with a college or corporation that result in the discovery, creation, or improvement of either products or processes.”
This brings us to the crux of the matter: how can physicians, who have innovative ideas to help take the medical industry further, turn concepts into reality (for example, new medical devices)?
Or is innovation only for the big conglomerates who have the money but might not have the passion for the niche as medical practitioners do? After all, these companies have to answer to stakeholders, who want to know whether the benefits outweigh the cost of innovation. More likely, if innovators – even physicians/researchers and medical device manufacturers in tandem – are not able to justify that their innovative device delivers more benefits and that these benefits outweigh all costs involved, then the project will probably not see the light of day.
Dr. Noah Minskoff emphasizes the difficulty that physicians, clinics, and even hospitals face:
The way we regulate medical devices is nebulous. It has become so expensive and so difficult that innovation is the sole terrain of the very large healthcare companies. If you have to spend millions or tens of millions of dollars just to get an idea to the FDA, it pushes out a large number of people. No individual, no small practice, no small hospital can even try to translate novel ideas into FDA approved devices or treatments.
It is a sad thought, isn’t it? We wouldn’t be wrong in saying that those in the medical field are intelligent and creative and that they probably have a lot of ideas that could help more people. It’s a pity that in this era, it does seem that the massive potential benefits we can reap from innovative ideas in the medical field are being hindered by regulations, lobbying, and economics.
Business is business, yes. Businesses are meant to make money, yes. But at what cost? The idea that innovation is a “luxury” for the wealthy seems to hold water, and society in general is suffering because of it. Isn’t it possible for all parties involved to find a middle ground so that innovation and economics can work together to take the medical industry further?
As business people, what do you think of the issue? Is there a way around it, or will status quo prevail?
Originally posted on December 10, 2014 @ 12:49 am