Future Directions and Impact of Biotechnology
In the industry of biotech several technologies are being invented to support faster, cheaper and more targeted drug discovery and development. Ultimately, these technologies have cut discovery time and increased the number of new chemical entities entering the advance stage to deploy it.
The advantage of biotechnology can’t be underestimated; with the world’s population continuing to grow and the oldest multiplying in many westernized countries, social insurance suppliers need to augment treatment benefits and to restrict inabilities while simultaneously limiting costs will be a key driver in the accomplishment of biotech-derived diagnostics and therapeutics. The first diagnose of disease-causing factors and, more importantly, early intervention strategies will ultimately change the face of health care by shifting its focus from empirical treatment of the symptoms to evidence-based treatment and prevention on the basis of an individual’s molecular make-up.
Other than the medical potential, biotechnology will also be an important financial factor. Because of improved diagnostics, medicinal services costs will diminish by providing more appropriate treatments. There will be less hospitalizations that currently occur because of adverse reactions to drugs, continuing acute illness because of lack of efficacy and inaccurate dosing. Adverse events currently cause more than 2 million hospitalizations and 100,000 passing yearly in only US, with a cost of $100 billion to the healthcare system (Batchelder and Miller, 2006). The other factor in healthcare cost reduction is that a two-tiered system will emerge, in which concerned individuals will focus on their own wellness and anticipation
It will generally assume the costs of buying pre-symptomatic diagnostics tests and making the lifestyle changes that these diagnostics suggest. Their out-of-pocket payment for prevention will reduce their disease and therefore reduce the costs to taxpayers and employers of serving them.
Gene-based medicine can help individuals identify their specific exposures to disease while they are well and take effective preventive steps. In the coming time, it will help to detect the onset of disease much earlier, enabling treatment to prevent disease progression, and can help bring about medical products that are tailored more precisely to the needs of each individual.