Technology & Innovation

An Evidence-Based Approach for Medical Technology

June 29, 2016

According to Kwame Opam at The Verge, researchers at the University of Stuttgart successfully used a 3D printer to create a three-lens camera small enough to be injected with a syringe. Such a device could potentially be used to take pictures inside human organs, including the brain.

Opam writes that the researchers behind the camera believe that 3D printing could represent the future of manufacturing, especially in medical contexts, which would raise large implications for both the future of medicine and medical device regulation.

The current centralized model of approving medical devices by agencies such as the FDA could become even more inefficient when devices can be produced within a doctor’s office or hospital by 3D printers.

For innovations such as this camera to come to market, regulators should avoid following the precautionary principle and instead allow researchers and doctors to follow an evidence-based approach to using new devices.