I am keen to point out the longer term nature of MedTech investments. A typical technology investor might view success over a five year period. Investment in MedTech can take longer. If you can navigate the regulatory and clinical hurdles required, assuming you have the right type of products and a solid market, commercialisation and licensing in MedTech can actually be less risky. You can choose to find a clinical partner or commercialise yourself. With traditional technology, commercialising is easily overlooked as a risk. Executing on a good commercialisation strategy in a very competitive market can be hard. Platform-based medical devices offer an investor a fairly unique opportunity.
I believe that the founder and CEO of Sky Medical Technology, Bernard Ross, and his team, have taken a perceptive approach to shifting the risk-reward profile. The team recognised that the company needed to spend money proving the device delivers positive medical outcomes – the geko™ device has received regulatory approval in the UK and US. This means the opportunity is less risky for licensees. Licensees only have to address commercial risk not regulatory risk.
If you have the right kind of clinical and economic data, it’s almost impossible for hospitals and clinics not to take your product seriously. It becomes too much of a risk not to use it.
MedTech – data driving better medical outcomes
I believe MedTech devices have an important role to play in the future of healthcare. There’s a new revolution in healthcare technology and it’s being driven by data. MedTech devices can incorporate data collection to help ensure a continuous improvement in outcomes. Imagine a connected version of the geko™ device. It could provide feedback on whether the device is switched on, positioned correctly and the impact it is having on blood flow. This could help provide a community nurse, for example, with data on which patients were using the device correctly, enabling them to focus on those that need help. This could mean time can be spent where it’s most needed, rather than seeing patients that do not need support. This data could also provide insight to patients, helping them to a speedier road to recovery, as well as offering an overview to health systems as to the most efficient and effective MedTech devices for specific ailments.
As innovation provides more ingenious solutions to medical issues, so the demands on healthcare systems grow. I believe that MedTech innovation can help bridge the gap between the growing healthcare demands of an ageing population and the limited budgets available for medical treatments. MedTech innovation – particularly platform technology that addresses multiple medical issues – has the potential to provide highly cost-effective ways to deliver improved clinical outcomes. This is great news for patients and investors and one of the reasons why we are excited by the opportunities offered by this industry.
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