This paper will describe recent neuro- and ocular- implant devices which have been abandoned by their companies of development, despite patient satisfaction with the devices. These cases will explore the regulatory and financial contexts of devices and the shaping of their non-development.
Long abstract:
In recent business and medical news briefs, there have been accounts of patients with implanted medical devices that have been abandoned. Ocular implants and neurotechnologies are two of the known cases of company cancellations. The devices have not been abandoned by dissatisfied patients, but removed or rendered obsolete by company failures or changes in direction. This paper will analyze these device abandonments through the lens of a Latourian analysis about the love of the technologies, but attuned to the economic power differentials between patients and their regard for their devices, and the calculus of the market and regulatory environments around these technologies. As noted by Bjiker and later developments in Actor-Network Theory, the ‘working’ of neuro-implants and related technologies has to do with more than technical effectiveness and encompasses financial considerations which may be disadvantageous to patient-users.