Biomarkers - miracle or marketing?

The BMJ has been campaigning for an end to “too much medicine” - the pernicious effect of marketing on the range of tests and treatments that doctors offer patients - tests and treatments which are motivated by the financial reward to the system, than the health of the individual. A new analysis on BMJ.com takes a look at what’s happening in the the first part of that - testing. New biomarkers for disease, and new ways of monitoring, have the potential to diagnose disease more quickly, but is the hype backed by science? Bjorn Hoffman professor of medical ethics at Norwegian University of Science and Technology and one of the authors of that article doesn’t think so - and joins us on the podcast to discuss. Read the full analysis: http://www.bmj.com/content/358/bmj.j3314