Evaluation of biotechnology-based healthcare products for prioritization in Indian context

Biotechnology (BT) has implications in the diagnosis, treatment/cure and prevention of diseases. Based on BT, a wide range of advanced drugs, diagnostics and vaccines have become available and are integral part of the health care system. Many new imaging and surgical intervention techniques also have great positive impact. However, given the limited resources available, especially in developing countries, the new techniques must be prioritized for correct policy decisions. This paper presents an exercise in prioritizing diagnostics and vaccines and comparing them with other high-tech medical care, which often receive the attention and favor of decision-makers and health care providers. This involves assessing the technologies for their beneficence index. This index is derived by accumulating the ratings for seven different factors e.g., need, efficacy, additional QALY, ease of integration. The outcome of the exercise shows diagnostics and vaccines to be more beneficial than surgical procedures and imaging technologies in the Indian context. Such an exercise could form a basis for resource allocation and can be favored by incentive structures for better social benefits.