By JOHN NOSTA
The big news recently is that Apple is reportedly secretly developing a dermal sensor for measuring blood glucose and the management of diabetes. It seems to be a sensor that works with the Apple Watch to continuously and painlessly monitor glucose levels. Similarly, Forbes contributor David Shaywitz reports that Alphabet's (Google) new wearable is "significant." And, in a world of statistics and wordsmithing, significant seems to have real meaning for a marketplace that has been driven by emotion and limited outcomes data. Further, the Google/Novartis glucose measuring contact lens also tickles our fancy for innovation and breakthrough.
Those with diabetes have long worried about "the needle" and almost constant pricks that have come to be linked with this condition. So a dermal monitor or contact lens could truly be a breakthrough. From data acquisition to durability (a one-week battery life), that Google innovation might also drive the shift for wearables from an "athletic option" to "clinical imperative."
It's in all the papers
But what really strikes me is the source of innovation and how it seems to come from "expectedly unexpected" sources like Google and Apple. We're beyond the days when we're shocked that a life science innovation doesn't come from Big Pharma. Yet interestingly, when a Google or Amazon or Apple enters the market with a "significant" innovation, the reaction is more a nod in acknowledgment than a significant surprise. In dramatic contrast to these tech innovations, we find the pharma "big news" headlines are more along the lines of soaring drug costs and executive behavior.
Today's model of innovation is a far cry from the "molasses hierarchy" of only a few short years ago. And it's important to point out that much of pharma must be credited for significant advances, including areas like genomics and oncology. And everyone seems to have their accelerator or center of excellence. Yet, in my experience, they are sometimes more a senior management imperative or a check in the box than something that actually moves fast or is focused on excellence. For me, it seems that some of that molasses is still part of the mindset and methodology that might be responsible for the slumber. The wake-up calls are coming from a wide variety of industries, like retail, and defined by the long-empty corridors of malls.
I wonder if the innovations of Google and Apple are another wake-up call for the life science industry which oftentimes has relied on the snooze function of line extensions and extended-release drugs as the source of income and innovation.
Originally posted on Forbes.com
John Nosta is the Founder of NostaLab - empowering innovation with outlandish thinking. Follow him @JohnNosta for a more informed and healthy future.
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