Emerging Technologies in the healthcare industry
The healthcare industry wouldn’t be where it is today without determination, research and plenty of innovation. Indeed, companies engaged in pioneering work are often given financial incentives to drive their work forward with the hmrc r&d tax credit calculator being used to estimate the financial relief businesses are entitled to.
Scientists, technology experts and medical professionals are continuously looking to make advancements, opening up new possibilities for the health care technology supply chain. So, while doctor strikes and news regarding NHS pressures dominate the headlines, what’s been bubbling away behind the scenes?
- Advanced drug delivery mechanisms
Unless you’ve a deep knowledge of the medical and pharmaceutical industry, it can be difficult to understand exactly how and why medication works. That’s why it’s up to the experts to develop clever techniques that will benefit the masses and there have been some impressive breakthroughs of late when it comes to drug delivery mechanisms.
Essentially, drug delivery is not always effective due to many limitations such as unimpressive solubility, low bioavailability and all-round poor efficiency due to complexities associated with the blood brain barrier. It’s a minefield requiring extensive expertise but it seems that nanodrug delivery systems are overcoming these hurdles by focussing on drug absorption and permeability – which, simply put, means delivering the drug to the site of the action without oral and intestinal absorption barriers.
- Improved performance of medicines
On a similar note, attention has been turned to increasing the performance of medicines focusing largely on fluid technologies. The main aim is to improve the therapeutic qualities of the drugs issued – be it through improved drug solubility or improved route of drug delivery as touched upon above. An inhalable drug which directly targets the lungs could be more effective than a tablet or injection, for instance. It takes extensive research and plenty of scientific jargon to overcome medical issues but it’s important to know that drug efficiency is very much in the spotlight.
- New In Vivo Drug Screening
There are two main screening procedures within the medical sector: in vitro which is performed outside of a living organism and in vivo which uses a living organism as opposed to a partial or dead organism. In vivo – despite being surrounded by continuous controversy – is a tried and tested way to see what medicines may work effectively on human beings.
Recently, genetically engineered fruit flies have been used in drug research intended to treat Parkinson’s disease. New screening techniques have given a deeper insight into how nerve cells act and are rapidly accelerating the drug discovery process.
If you’re involved with a research and development project, why not conduct a research and development credit calculation to see what financial relief you could be entitled to? This could help to drive your ideas forward and ensure you meet your targets and goals.