Personal health is becoming increasingly mobile, and there are now
thousands of apps aiming to address everything from lifestyle issues to
chronic diseases. But can you trust these apps, the same way you trust
your prescribed drugs and medical devices?
Medical devices are generally regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration, and although the FDA reviews some apps, experts say the
agency's power and efforts aren't nearly enough to cover the 97,000 and
counting health apps out there that are transforming consumer health.
"The FDA is woefully understaffed and under-resourced to oversee these
things, particularly given the number of the thousands of apps that are
[most likely] under FDA's jurisdiction," said health law expert Nathan
Cortez, an associate professor of law at Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law in Dallas, Texas.
In an editorial published in The New England Journal of Medicine
on Thursday (July 24), Cortez and his colleagues argued that health and
medical apps hold the promise of improving health, reducing medical
errors, avoiding costly interventions, and broadening access to care.
But to reach their potential, these products have to be safe and
effective, they said.
via livescience.
Link of the full article here.
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