Know-How Exchange : Strategy

Dear TyzaniaWilliams

The answer rather depends on whether you are going to attempt to obtain some form of medical certification for the procedure. If you do that, it will need to be approved by the FDA which is a long and expensive process, involving double-blind trials and the publication and acceptance of peer reviewed articles in the appropriate journals.

Most “Alternative” medical procedures and products do not go through this process and are marketed and sold as lifestyle products. This is largely because they would never prove their efficacy in a full approval trial but as they are at least, mostly harmless (Apart from damage to the wallet) they can be sold on the basis that the user accepts your claimed benefits.

If the procedure involves defined steps or the use of specific instrumentation in a defined pattern, then it is possible to patent this process.

You need to proceed carefully though – the respected UK magazine, The New Scientist regularly publishes extracts from some of the more bizarre procedures and claims filed in the US and UK patent offices. To file a patent on a medical procedure, you do not need to prove that it works! They call such examples “FruitLoopery” as they are written in the manner of a proven scientific discovery and are based on nothing which can be substantiated in accepted forms of scientific research.

Your example of detecting a past suicide attempt from someone who was in denial, would be met with incredulity, unless the same process identified about 80% of patients with a history of suicide out of a trial of 200 people, consisting of 100 people who have never had a problem and 100 people who have attempted suicide. A full FDA medical trial would involve hundreds of test subjects.

What I am saying, in summary that you probably can protect your method but you must be careful that you do not expose yourself to ridicule with tenuous and unproven claims. Even more to the point, if you protect the method by patent and then sell it, you will be exposed to law-suits from people who either disagree with the outcome or claim that they have been caused harm by an unsubstantiated treatment. They could claim that it was mis-sold to them.

I’m not anti alternative medicine – my godmother was the president of the British Association of Naturopaths (Herbal doctors to you and to me) and even her well researched and investigated treatments and diagnosis are under scrutiny due to a European directive on proving the efficacy of alternative medical products sold to their patients. For example, although it is studied at several British Universities, Homeopathy falls at the first hurdle because there is no scientific evidence beyond hearsay and conjecture that it works. It matter not a jot if you believe that you can benefit patients, you will still get your ass sued off in any court in the EC!

Best wishes

Steve Alker
Xspirt

Steve and Randall have given you good advice.

The simplest way would be to team up with the owner of the invention and market it for them (I'm assuming that the inventor has approved patents). Their equipment + your services = business model.

If you can't team up, then you need to create an after-market reason for people to use your services. Spread the word about the invention (offer to arrange financing, or rent it, or arrange a group buy, or...) but more importantly arrange an ongoing program for its use.

And before you start, you need independent studies confirming the results to protect you and your company legally.