More than 75% of Fortune 500 life-science companies may fall out of that ranking by 2023 amid rising competition from tech giants like Apple, Microsoft and Alphabet, as well as smaller tech players that offer data-driven health services and products that meet the needs of a changing value-based and consumer-driven health-care environment, according to a new Ernst & Young report.

While August may have broken the short summer bull run, last month's batch of venture fundraisings did have one redeeming feature – it recorded the biggest Series A round this year to date, a $50m deal by liquid biopsy company Karius.

3D printing has been hailed as a potentially game-changing technology for different industries. Biomedical applications, in particular, have garnered much attention when patients were able to receive 3D-printed, customized, lifesaving medical interventions. But aside from these niche markets for personalized medical devices, can 3D printing ever become mainstream in health care? This article, a guest column from leaders at the Boston Consulting Group, explores what the benefits of 3D-printed devices are and how they are driving the uptake of this technology. It also assesses how fast this adoption is happening and evaluates how – and in which biomedical applications and device markets – 3D printing could best enhance products and allow medtech manufacturers to grow their business.