Q&A: The future and key drivers of diagnostic innovation
After speaking at Med-Tech Innovation Expo 2021, Dr Ashton Harper explains more about future diagnostic innovation, and the effects COVID-19 has had.
What role has innovation played in our response to COVID-19?
The concept of innovation in the context of healthcare is open to a degree of interpretation. When we hear the word innovation, we immediately think of some brand new technology or process of doing something, which is a core, but not sole, component of its meaning. A more comprehensive definition of innovation, offered by Kelly and Young, is the sum of “invention + adoption + diffusion.”
Roche Diagnostics launched the first CE-marked PCR COVID-19 test on 13 March 2020. Meaning, in less than a month, we identified the sequence for COVID-19, created a test and secured validation. Although the test itself was novel, arguably the speed and agility of its adoption was the greater innovation.
It usually takes a minimum of two years to develop a test, get it approved and regulated before it is then used across the health system. Had that been the case with tests for COVID-19, we would still be waiting for them to be deployed today; a strong case for ensuring that regulatory frameworks of the future provide optimal efficiency and safety.
When it comes to innovation, how do you decide where to focus your efforts?
It goes without saying that COVID-19 remains a self-defining area of priority for us. Beyond this, our innovation efforts are guided by rigorous and continual analysis of critical epidemiological data, such as disease prevalence, mortality, and quality of life, of hundreds of diseases. This process enables us to create a dynamic list of priority target diseases requiring the most urgent attention.
At Roche, we are fortunate to have diagnostics and pharma working together as this enables R&D alignment in both diagnosis and treatment of high medical value targets.
What are the key drivers of successful innovation?
One of the key drivers for the successful development and adoption of innovation is strong and effective partnerships.
For example, in 2017 we collaborated with the Oxford AHSN to increase uptake of placental growth factor-based (PIGF) testing for pre-eclampsia, helping three of the first hospitals in England to adopt this testing into standard clinical practice.
The clinical lead called out the advantages of combining industry innovation and research evidence to meet a known NHS need, and the valuable insights and support provided by the AHSN. Within four years of the first real world evaluation in the Oxford AHSN region, 119 of England’s maternity units had adopted the test into standard clinical practice.
We are also collaborating with industry, academia, and NHS hospitals on several large-scale studies funded through the UK Research and Innovation Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. These projects will integrate a wide range of multimodal diagnostics and patient data aimed at improving the early diagnosis of lung, liver, and colorectal cancers.
With the front line under increasing pressure, new ways of working are often the first casualty, what does that mean for the future of diagnostic innovation?
Diagnostics have a crucial role to play in helping the NHS to meet the enormous challenges it is currently facing. 1.2 billion pathology tests are performed each year in the NHS, and IVD testing is estimated to guide 70-80% of clinical decisions, providing the means to screen, diagnose, prognose and monitor patients and, ultimately, enable them to receive the right treatment at the right time.
Diagnostics can also help channel vital resources where they can have the greatest impact. Natriuretic peptide testing for heart failure, used in primary care, could help reduce 50% of unnecessary echocardiograms and referrals.
Likewise, PlGF testing allows pregnant women, who might previously have been admitted for costly and unnecessary monitoring, to be sent home safely.
In June, we published ‘The Future of Diagnostics Delivery in the UK’, which details three key areas that should form the basis of a future roadmap:
- Expansion of the UK pathology sector, with the skills, technology and resources needed to meet current and future demands.
- The embedding and integration of the most effective elements of the testing infrastructure created to tackle COVID-19.
- A rapid and effective increase in the adoption and diffusion of the latest innovations in diagnostic testing into the NHS.
We hope this will lead to conversations that will help advance through the current adversities and build a diagnostics industry that is ready to meet the health challenges of today and tomorrow.