Απρίλιος 2014

Cost-effectiveness is paramount for any new medical technology. If pharmaceutical companies do not see a profit, new drugs will never see the light of day. And if insurance companies think a new treatment is more expensive than the old one, they will simply not pay. Take thrombosis, or blood clotting, which affects millions of people worldwide. Blood thinners, like coumarins, are amongst the most widely used drugs to prevent blood clotting. But getting dosage right is a very challenging problem and errors have led to hospitalisations. The need for accurate dosage testing is thus clear.

Benign growth, or cancer? Tumor markers in the blood help determine whether the patient is afflicted with a malign tumor and whether it is excreting markers more vigorously – involving highly specific proteins. An increased concentration in the blood provides one indication of the disease for physicians. However, it has been quite expensive in time and effort to detect the markers thus far. This is because all kinds of molecules and proteins are teeming in the blood.

How can pressure cells contribute to help tackling the rapidly growing problem of degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer? This is one of the issues a new project funded by NMI3 will seek to address.

Further information: cordis.europa.eu