| Biosensors: The Window
to a New Era in Medicine
Executive Summary
by Leo J. Borrell, M.D.
Diabetes is now and more in the future a major health concern
for all Americans. It will affect 25% of the population over
65. Treatment requires expenditures of 20% of our healthcare
dollars now and will be more as the population ages and is
more overweight. Research has definitely shown that control
of blood sugar levels results in 25-75% of the complication
of the disease. This is creating a momentum to develop capabilities
for a continuous monitoring of blood glucose levels and other
physiological parameters and multiple organ systems simultaneously.
It is predicted that the non-invasive testing market will
grow to 2 billion in the year 2000, 8 billion in the year
2010. Out of this number, 50% will be for glucose testing.
In the year 2005, cardiac, diagnostic, molecular, immunological
and genetic testing will begin to gain significant market
by biosensor and biochip technology. At that time, optical
sensors will quickly replace Amperometric technology. A major
need in this market is for collection storage and transmission
of data. This has been created by several trends:
- Managed Care has begun a trend of continuity of care with
more patients being treated outside of the hospital and
the emergence of Disease Management Protocol.
- Caregivers are becoming widely dispersed and there is
a need for telemedicine capabilities.
- The Laboratory diagnostic industry, which is a 17 billion
dollar market, will be restructured as central laboratories
and will be replaced by critical care and point-of-care
testing.
As medicine enters a new era of remote care, many diseases
that are incurable, difficult to treat or difficult to diagnose
will be cured as molecular medicine becomes commonly used.
The use of DSP and biochips presents major opportunities in
all of these areas.
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