11th Annual Meeting DIA Japan 2014

Even in the therapeutic area where medical treatment by drugs has been traditionally common the treatment by medical devices has started for the patients who are resistant to treatment by drugs. Further such medical devices like PDT Laser and Vascular Embolization Beads which increase effectiveness of medical treatment when used together with drugs have been used for treatment of certain cancer which has been traditionally difficult to treat. As above, beyond combination products such as drug eluting stent the innovative combined usage of drug and medical devices has opened new phase of opportunities for new medical treatment As combined usage of drugs and medical devices is getting more complex how to evaluate the clinical benefit of such combined products is also getting complex. Since the criteria of clinical evaluation is different between drugs and medical devices because of their product characteristics it is important to start discussion for clinical evaluation criteria and methodology for new medical treatment by combined usage of drugs and medical devices.