Analyzing the Medical Technology Industry in Québec: Medical technologies

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By Chris Rogers and Maria Cootauco

If one looks at the medical device industry in a classic sense, Québec may not have the most companies, at least from an absolute point-of-view, however, if the definition is opened up to include medical technologies (e.g. diagnostics and healthcare IT), than Québec suddenly becomes a hotbed. Diane Cote, vice-president of MEDEC-AITS, believes the need to look closer at the traditional definition because of the evolution of the industry in Québec.

“I think it’s a reflection of the convergence that you see in the technologies,” she said.

Cote explains that medical technologies have become very multi-disciplinary in the way they now need people from various backgrounds and skills and areas of expertise to put together even classic devices.

Cote said there are around 600 organizations in Québec that are actively engaged in actually producing solutions or assisting companies that are producing solutions. She cites a recent report that claims around 60 per cent of companies engaged in healthcare IT or e-health are based in Québec.

The industry in Québec is quite dynamic. Cote attributes the successes
(especially in the Montréal area) to three main themes.

ROCHE DIAGNOSTICS
Roche Diagnostics is a Québec-based division of F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd., a Swiss company specializing in product testing and services to researchers, pharmacists, physicians, and laboratory professionals. Its pharmaceuticals division works out of a Mississauga, ON. branch.

“We’re the diagnostic division of the Roche Group,” said Michele Beaubien, executive director, government and corporate affairs for Roche Diagnostics. “I would say that what is really exciting these days and what’s happening is that we providing hospitals with more and more efficiency through automation.”

Roche has automated equipment and offers solutions to labs, helping to create leaner systems. By cultivating efficiency, the company is able to take on more testing without the of requiring many lab professionals, Beaubien explained. “This is not a field (that) is attracting as many people as maybe a lot of professionals would wish,” she added. “So we need to automate as much as possible, all the routine work so that those lab technicians can work on value added services to the patient.”

Roche is also implementing a personalized healthcare proposition where the company has tried to create medical value for the patient and the medical community, Beaubien said. “At the CHIM, we’re doing anticoagular therapy … We have what is called what we call ‘decentralized I & R testing’ … Instead of having veins punctured to draw blood and then send it to the lab and have the patient wait for hours while they get the results back and they see their doctor, they do just a finger pricking.”

With more streamlined processes, Roche Diagnostics enables self-testing done at home, with patients calling in for results, representing the “ first major decentralization that’s being done in Canada right now,” said Beaubien of the service that starts in October.

BAYLIS
Founded in Montréal by a nurse named Gloria Baylis in 1986, Baylis Medical Co. has grown from its roots as a Canadian importer and distributor of medical products for neurology. Today, Baylis Medical is a leading developer, manufacturer and exporter of advanced medical products used in cardiology, pain management and radiology.

Baylis Medicals’ Radio Frequency Puncture System is an innovative technology used by pediatric interventional cardiologists to treat pulmonary atresia. Now recognized as gold standard for the disease’s treatment the world over, the technology is used to create controlled perforations in cardiac and vascular tissues.

Another application developed by Baylis Medical is the Radio Frequency Management System used for back pain treatments. The systems destroys nerves responsible for pain, according to Baylis Medical’s product literature. Cooled-Radiofrequency disturbs pain signals sent to the brain by sending a current through a needle to destroy the painful nerves. The outpatient procedure takes about 30 minutes.


CHCA
CHCA Computer Systems Inc., a computer solutions company based in Terrebonne, QC, has been in the business of building healthcare management systems since 1992.

One of its cornerstone technologies is the Opera Surgical Management System, an operating room management software application that gives clinicians and administrators all available information on surgical procedures planned, underway or completed. The programs includes features for OR planning and scheduling, material management, material requirement planning, pre-admission consultants, documentation of operating times, procedure clinical notes, sterilization management and transcription.

Also in its roster of management systems is Concerto, an electronic health record system that provides healthcare professionals with real-time access to information to support clinical processes. The SUM information system enables the application of accounting activities from a horizontal management perspective.
In addition to its robust management systems, CHCA also provides clients with consulting services, user training, technical support and integration services.


ADVANCED RESEARCH
TECHNOLOGIES Inc. (ART)
Researching, designing, developing and marketing optical imaging products for the medical pharmaceutical industries is ART’s specialty, along with bringing to market, products relating to medical imaging, medical diagnostics, medical research and drug discovery.

As part of a global strategic alliance with GE Healthcare, a global leader in mammography and imaging, ART commercialized SoftScan, an optical breast imaging device designed to improve the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.

The technology utilizes ART’s molecular imaging technology that displays and helps differentiate between normal and malignant tissue.

Another innovative ART technology is time domain optical imaging, that when paired fluorescent markers, enables intensity, absorption and the lifetime of fluorescence to be measured, permitting drugs to be analyzed when used in combination therapy. For biological tissue imaging, time domain imaging is beneficial for its ability to separate scattering and absorption coefficients in tissue and greater depth sensitivity. Time domain optical imaging works by measuring the absorption and scatter characteristics of light in the visible and near-infrared region of the spectrum. It gives a comprehensive description of biological tissue, allowing for characterization of diseases like breast cancer.

THREE MAIN THEMES
1. The classic clinical research activities that lead to the development of devices and technologies.

2. The presence of two engineering schools in Montréal that are very engaged in the industry.

3. In Québec, as in other provinces, the healthcare delivery system is very integrated where there are not only hospitals but social services, encouraging solutions that cover the entire spectrum of delivery.