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Health Technology Assessment for In Silico Medicine: Social, Ethical and Legal Aspects

Author

Listed:
  • Carlo Giacomo Leo

    (Institute of Clinical Physiology, National Research Council, 73100 Lecce, Italy
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Maria Rosaria Tumolo

    (Institute of Clinical Physiology, National Research Council, 73100 Lecce, Italy
    Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technology, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Saverio Sabina

    (Institute of Clinical Physiology, National Research Council, 73100 Lecce, Italy)

  • Riccardo Colella

    (Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technology, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy)

  • Virginia Recchia

    (Institute of Clinical Physiology, National Research Council, 73100 Lecce, Italy)

  • Giuseppe Ponzini

    (Institute for Research on Population and Social Policies, National Research Council, 72100 Brindisi, Italy)

  • Dimitrios Ioannis Fotiadis

    (Unit of Medical Technology and Intelligent Information Systems, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece
    Department of Biomedical Research, Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology—Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (IMBB-FORTH), 45115 Ioannina, Greece)

  • Antonella Bodini

    (Institute for Applied Mathematics and Information Technologies “E. Magenes”, National Research Council, 20133 Milan, Italy)

  • Pierpaolo Mincarone

    (Institute for Research on Population and Social Policies, National Research Council, 72100 Brindisi, Italy)

Abstract

The application of in silico medicine is constantly growing in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases. These technologies allow us to support medical decisions and self-management and reduce, refine, and partially replace real studies of medical technologies. In silico medicine may challenge some key principles: transparency and fairness of data usage; data privacy and protection across platforms and systems; data availability and quality; data integration and interoperability; intellectual property; data sharing; equal accessibility for persons and populations. Several social, ethical, and legal issues may consequently arise from its adoption. In this work, we provide an overview of these issues along with some practical suggestions for their assessment from a health technology assessment perspective. We performed a narrative review with a search on MEDLINE/Pubmed, ISI Web of Knowledge, Scopus, and Google Scholar. The following key aspects emerge as general reflections with an impact on the operational level: cultural resistance, level of expertise of users, degree of patient involvement, infrastructural requirements, risks for health, respect of several patients’ rights, potential discriminations for access and use of the technology, and intellectual property of innovations. Our analysis shows that several challenges still need to be debated to allow in silico medicine to express all its potential in healthcare processes.

Suggested Citation

  • Carlo Giacomo Leo & Maria Rosaria Tumolo & Saverio Sabina & Riccardo Colella & Virginia Recchia & Giuseppe Ponzini & Dimitrios Ioannis Fotiadis & Antonella Bodini & Pierpaolo Mincarone, 2022. "Health Technology Assessment for In Silico Medicine: Social, Ethical and Legal Aspects," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-13, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:3:p:1510-:d:737084
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Buckley, Jenifer A. & Thompson, Paul B. & Whyte, Kyle Powys, 2017. "Collingridge's dilemma and the early ethical assessment of emerging technology: The case of nanotechnology enabled biosensors," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 54-63.
    2. Luc Rocher & Julien M. Hendrickx & Yves-Alexandre de Montjoye, 2019. "Estimating the success of re-identifications in incomplete datasets using generative models," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-9, December.
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