Re-branded and Expanded, HealthTech Integrates 2023 is a hit with the MedTech, Digital Health, and HealthTech Community

With finance high on the public agenda, the sessions began with an eye-opening interview with Barclays UK’s Head of Culture & Transformation & Chief Scientific Advisor Steven Roberts, conducted by Jane Kennedy, Chief Business Officer at Discovery Park. Steve outlined Barclays’ award-winning Eagle Lab scheme – a network of 35 tech innovation labs across the UK, forming the largest tech incubator network in Europe.

“We rediscovered what being a bank was about,” he said, explaining the development of the Eagle Labs from ‘maker spaces’ to the tech innovation hub they’ve become today. “As they developed, we experimented. We listened to what people wanted. We worked with third parties to provide services that support funding, scale-up, and connection.”

Delving into why people were paying to work in Eagle Labs over cheaper alternatives, Steve shared the answer he got from lab-users: “it’s because of the network you can connect us to.”

With an ever-growing urgency to reach Net Zero, Martin Baxter asked how HealthTech is embracing sustainability, covering single-use plastics and the carbon costs of data processing.

“The NHS was the world’s first health system to commit to Net Zero – we’re at the forefront and trying to spearhead the change,” said Michelle Sullivan. “90% of our emissions are out of our direct control so we’ve been working on the 10%. But now we need to focus on the 90% – the will is there, but we’re looking for the way.”

Discussing sector-specific challenges, Addie MacGregor mentioned regulation: “a major challenge is that changing any material means you may have to go through the entire regulatory process again. This takes time and money.” Brennan Miles outlined the recycling challenges: “many medical devices contain several different materials that are not designed to be taken apart, so they’re difficult to reuse or recycle.” Sustainability needs to be built into a product right from the start, he explained.

Looking to solutions, Daniel Coole discussed the application of circular economy principles in a healthcare setting. “We need to change our mindset to become a nation of fixers – we need to build this into technical skills in schools,” he said. Pete Waddingham mentioned the potential for technology to improve carbon accounting: “people need better data available to spot the opportunities for improvement. Enabling technologies like AI have potential to make things easier.” Sharing the big picture view, Addie reminded delegates that HealthTech itself has the potential to make healthcare more sustainable: “investing in prevention and diagnostics is better for people, the planet, and the population.”

With different regulatory pathways in the US, EU, & UK, Hugh Harvey asked how to select the best pathway, and how to prepare a successful regulatory strategy.

As entrepreneurs in digital therapeutics, Ema Kufel and Ama Frimpong shared their insights from dealing with UK regulations. “Our goal is to get devices in patients’ hands. The UK market is not worth the risk right now because it’s not clear how much the situation surrounding regulations and standards will change,” said Ema.

Ama spoke of a similar dilemma: “it’s a dilemma whether to go for UK approval. We’re doing clinical trials here, but it’s not clear what they want from us. We’re preparing for the direction we think regulations are going to go, but it could change. We want to be in the UK so we can help people here, but it’s difficult. We need people to fix it.”

Comparing different markets, panellists praised the US, but didn’t discount the UK. “Anecdotally we’re seeing a drift to the US, and the size of the potential market is driving this,” said James Fry. He praised the FDA’s proactive approach in taking innovative devices through the regulatory pathway.

Mina Frost also praised the FDA. “In my experience, the FDA is more open-minded and gives more help. I’m not surprised we’re seeing manufacturers shift to the US. The UK needs to show agility in the framework to attract and retain companies.”

“I agree that we’ve seen a shift to the US – the market share is 10x bigger,” added Vishal Thakker. “But at the same time, there’s also a shift of innovative device manufacturers leaving the EU and coming to the UK because it’s currently easy to gather the data to meet UK regulations.”

Pari Datta asked diagnostics experts how we can build on our learnings from the pandemic.

“Pre pandemic there was a slight dislike towards diagnostics – it was a dirty word. Then in the pandemic it became a sexy subject, people were investing,” said Robert Porter, reflecting on how the pandemic changed attitudes towards diagnostics. “It brought the people who didn’t normally use diagnostics into the fray.”

“Consumer behaviour is the biggest change,” added Frederick Manduca, “the public understood what the results meant and what the next steps were.”

Looking at what’s been learnt – or not – from the pandemic, the panellists were not wholly optimistic as to whether the field has moved forward. “At the start of the pandemic people underestimated how difficult it was to do diagnostics. There were huge supply chain problems. We built up some capacity, but forgetting this isn’t helpful for the next time we need large numbers of diagnostics on shelves. And we are forgetting,” said John Tyson.

Speakers shared concerns about the UK’s diagnostic market. “The UK has the brightest and best scientists in diagnostics, but they’re underfunded and underappreciated. Because the devices look so simple we assume they’re easy to make, but in reality it’s extremely complex,” said Robert.

“All of our tests are being manufactured overseas – it’s a sad state of affairs for British diagnostics coming out of Covid,” added Frederick.

Looking to solutions to support the diagnostics market, Jonathan O’Halloran emphasised the need for money, procurement, and regulation: “we need to change NHS procurement rules because they’re biased to large companies which are mostly overseas.” And, however the diagnostics market evolves, Peter Whawell emphasised the importance of building speed into system: “when it comes to communicable pathogens, we’re in a race. We need to find the infected person before they’re infectious. We have to have a plan that will win that race.”

With regulations becoming ever more encompassing – and made increasingly complex by the fine line between ‘digital health products’ and ‘medical devices’ – James Fry asked whether regulations are keeping pace with innovation.

The panel compared UK, US, and European regulatory scenes. “The UK’s an attractive place for innovation. It’s a great place for development. But it’s challenging to get innovations adopted,” said Michael Kipping. “The FDA are consistent and predictable – that’s what manufacturers need from a regulator,” he added. Timothy Bubb also praised the FDA: “there have been a number of reforms that have made interactions with the FDA much more meaningful. We need to learn from this system and think about how we can help innovators.”

The key message was the importance of early engagement with regulators. “We work with manufacturers to help them reach an early understanding of how they can incorporate clinical safety and risk assessments into those very early conversations with clinical users,” said Paul Weston. “It’s about engaging with the regulators from the beginning, that’s the key for manufacturers of medical devices,” added Vishal Thakker. “Engage from the beginning, and they will help you navigate the key milestones.”

Your commercialisation strategy has the potential to make or break you, and Neil Ebenezer discussed partnering strategies and the pros and cons of different global markets. “Find the right partners at the right time,” advocated Steven Bagshaw, “surround yourself with people who can complement your weaknesses.”

Comparing UK and US markets, John Milad shared his perspective as an investor: “the UK serves as a great sandbox to test businesses, but it’s not a big enough marketplace to be an end market itself. Investors are looking for clear plans to go into the US as that’s where the biggest market is.”

Matt West agreed: “there’s a lot of opportunity in the UK – take those successes and replicate across other systems.” Considering the US market, he advised to choose your landing spot: “the US is so big, think about where you want to land.”

One of the biggest challenges in accessing different markets is differences in regulations. “The MHRA need to closely align with FDA for medical devices. This would help UK businesses to reach the US market,” said Meri Beckwith. “My one magic wand to solve the barriers? Merge the MHRA and the FDA.”

“Apps in healthcare are growing more than in any other area. There’s a medical app boom, but is this a good thing? Is it sustainable?” asked Monica Fletcher OBE.

Commenting on this huge number of apps, Lloyd Humphreys mentioned the benefit of choice. “We need choice because there’s not a one-size-fits-all app. But we need the right amount of choice so that we can actually find what we want,” he said. “Lots of apps address ‘big ticket items’ like depression, but this leaves a digital gap surrounding less common conditions.”

Sharing his view on the app ‘boom’, Tim Denison highlighted the importance of quality control and clinical confidence: “we need clear validation to give consumers confidence in the app.”

As a visually impaired professional and developer of an innovative smart cane, Jean Marc Feghali explained the challenges that this increase in apps creates for blind people. “The plethora of apps is problematic for blind people. Investing in making apps more accessible is hard because you need to keep it up as apps continue to develop, and blind people may also need accompanying hardware.” Also commenting on accessibility issues, Peter Bannister advised to consider differences in technology and data availabilities in different regions. “If you’re building a solution that relies on a smartphone, you’re excluding those that don’t use smartphones,” he said.

As the healthcare app market continues to expand and advance, Lucy Jones mentioned the need to properly define what a product actually is. “We have to make a distinction between wellbeing apps vs digital therapeutics. Digital therapeutics need more regulations and guidance to help the end user.”

 In a sector which, by name, is at the interface of healthcare and technology, Cynthia Bullock led a discussion on multi-disciplinary working. “Innovation requires new ways of thinking,” said Michael Young, referring to ‘the Henry Ford problem’ at the invention of cars: “if you ask people what they want, they’ll say a faster horse. The user doesn’t always know what’s possible.”

Discussing benefits to innovation, Nicola Broughton spoke of the importance of having the right expertise: “innovation happens when you’ve got two people coming together from different angles, bringing knowledge from different disciplines, to come up with something novel.” Kathryn Simpson agreed: “it’s about people with different backgrounds and experiences working together, that’s what drives success.”

Turning to the challenges, panellists highlighted language barriers between disciplines, the need to align values and priorities, and the importance of personality. “The bit that’s often overlooked is balancing personalities,” said Robbie Huddleston. “I invest lots of time in the hiring process to ensure that new hires will complement the existing team. The cost of a bad hire is huge, especially in a small company.”

Finishing with tips to build a strong team, Kathryn alluded to the common scenario where you need specific skills for specific lengths of time: “You can bring specialists in to help with certain stages. It’s important to agree how you’re going to work together in advance so that everyone’s on the same page.”

“Thank you to all our speakers, sponsors, and partners who made it possible cover such a wide range of opportunities and challenges in such depth” said Life Science Integrates Executive Director Samuel Thangiah.

“It’s amazing to see the amount of innovation occurring in this sector,” added Christopher Watt, Executive Director, Life Science Integrates. “We’re immensely thankful to Bayer who sponsored the HealthTech Innovator Area, an excellent space that gave innovators and start-ups the opportunity to share their projects, products, and results with delegates across the sector.”