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NOVEMBER 2019 I SMT007 MAGAZINE 53 machine availability, can be performed more cost-effectively in the near future at outpa- tient clinics. We are working with a local company that is developing a device that is comparable to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), where you have to lie down in a hospital to get a good image of your body organs. This is expensive and time-consuming. This company is making a product that is about the size of a brick. With this product, it will be a simple and small procedure where the patient can sit or lie down. A healthcare professional can then move the device over different parts of the body to perform the same functions as the large, million-dollar machines. They have a price point of $50,000–70,000. It's at the beginning stages of this disruptive technology, but if they are successful, then these are the types of changes I expect to see with the digi - tal medical revolution. There are some similar products already in the marketplace, as well as some beta and alpha testing underway, so I feel that the medical sector is going to explode in the next few years. Johnson: Based on what you do in your part of the market, you're likely to be work- ing with some of these companies creating these innovations. How does this technology you're describing change "a day in the life" of a contract manufacturer or an EMS com - pany compared to what they've been doing already? If you look at ingestible smart pills and devices, for example, they have tiny sensors or cameras that go through your body and take pictures of the different organs. lution." Traditionally, you have to go to a hos- pital and wait to access diagnostic machines and procedures. Now, with so many medical device changes coming into play, it is chang- ing the whole landscape of treatment, analysis, and monitoring of patients. If you look at ingestible smart pills and devices, for example, they have tiny sensors or cameras that go through your body and take pictures of the different organs. And if you're looking at the small intestine, for instance, there are several steps the doctor takes with a regular endoscopy to reach certain areas. But with ingestible smart devices, you quickly and efficiently get to those gastrointestinal areas with advanced sensors and cameras. Those sensors and cameras send vivid pictures to a patch or a device worn on the patient's body that records and displays that data in real time. Your doctors and medical service providers can look at how things are done and detect tumors, abnormalities, and anomalies inside of your different organs. Johnson: What do you see as the risks to this technology? Khan: Since the technology of these ingestible smart devices is new, the associated risks are also not well-known at this point. What hap- pens if the pill gets stuck in some small portion of your intestine and won't come out? Would the patient feel pain or have to do a surgical procedure? Especially since these devices are going inside of your body, then you have to make sure that materials used, such as met- als or plastics, and the shape and form are not harmful to people. This is something the industry will figure out as soon as this technol- ogy becomes more standard. Johnson: Is this taking off, in your opinion? Khan: It has started, but I see it taking off more in the next three to five years. I imagine it will have a hockey stick growth. By hockey stick growth, I mean that a lot of these time- consuming procedures that patients need at a big hospital now, where they have to wait for