Some advances in neuroscience, especially those related to neurotechnologies, offer big business opportunities, panelists said during the second day of the Neuroethics Society’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C.
“Neurotechnology addresses one of the largest untapped markets,” said Zach Lynch of NeuroInsights and the Neurotech Industry Organization, which in May led the effort to introduce the National Neurotechnology Initiative Act in the U.S. Congress.
Nearly one in three people, or about 2 billion worldwide, will develop a mental condition such as addiction, anxiety, depression, chronic pain or dementia during their lives, he said.
In 2007, global neurotech industry revenue rose 8.3 percent to $130.5 billion; it had risen 10 percent the previous year. Venture capitalists are bullish, too, with investment of $1.77 billion last year, representing 20 percent of all investment in life-sciences businesses, according to a survey by NeuroInsights.
More than 100,000 people worldwide already have the neurodevices called cochlear implants, which allow for better hearing, said Martha Farah of the University of Pennsylvania. Techniques such as transcranial magnetic stimulation, an outside-the-head magnetic technique approved to treat some forms of depression, might “be coming to a brain spa near you any day,” she said.
“We are seeing neuroscience and its applications becoming ‘disruptive technologies,’ ” Farah said, which are not incremental improvements but “fundamental game-changers” in their fields.
Lynch agreed: “The implications of brain improvement” through neuropharmaceuticals, neurodevices and neurodiagnostics will be as far-reaching as the spread of electricity or computing, he said.
These fields have the potential for great good, but also for great ills, Farah said. Should researchers who are also businesspeople declare potential conflicts of interest in their reporting? How can consumers be sure an unregulated neuro-product is safe and effective? How do we ensure fairness if some people can afford brain-improving drugs and others can’t—or do we wish to ensure such fairness? How do we ensure privacy?
And who decides if a worker must take a brain-improving drug—his or her employer? “Mental health is the ultimate competitive resource,” Lynch said, and neurotechnology could improve memory retention and decrease the incidence of anxiety and stress. “Even if only a small group of people takes them, it will reshape the economy,” he said, noting that likely early adopters would be people in the financial industries, such as market traders. [also posted on Dana Press blog. More good stuff there!]
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