United Kingdom

Speakers at a recent UK medtech outlook conference voiced optimism about the sector’s prospects, but warned that cost burdens, over-regulation and lengthy processes will impede the capacity of local SMEs to innovate. Only 10% of NHS procured medtech comes from UK manufacturers.

Roche aims to grow its diagnostics sales by mid to high single digits, said CEO of Roche Diagnostics Matt Sause. The company unveiled the Axelios synthesis and sequencing solution and discussed its “long-term commitment” to China, as well as its business strategy for the next five years.

The UK has issued clearer guidance to help drug and medical device sponsors demonstrate how they intend to include a diverse and relevant range of participants in their clinical trials.

Post-market surveillance regulations for medtech system users in Great Britain coming into force on 16 June will make new data requirements under new compliance deadlines.

King’s College London, Imperial College London and The Alan Turing Institute constructed cardiac digital twins at scale, creating over 3,400, in a new study using UK Biobank data published in Nature Cardiovascular Research on 16 May.

Flo Health was the first femtech unicorn to be valued at over $1bn. But the company faced 49 investment rejections before reaching that status, Anna Klepchukova, the company’s chief medical officer, told the LSX World Congress Europe. THENA Capital’s Esther Reynal de St Michel Richardot talked through the firm’s gender-smart investment strategy.

With medtech businesses typically managing investment cycles on a three- to five-year basis, local regulatory processes and forward costs of market entry must offer an attractive environment in which companies can plan for growth, says McDermott Will and Emery’s partner and head of healthcare and life sciences, Sharon Lamb. Broad-scale improvements to NICE’s evaluation offerings would similarly enhance the UK’s value to innovators.

One year after the UK mooted the Rules-Based Pathway to give medtechs clarity on what can be expected from an evaluation, the devices industry says UK healthtech assessment and adoption processes are still failing to meet the needs of innovators and patients.

“It’s quite likely [consumer wearable manufacturers] are changing the sensitivity and specificity based on consumer feedback, but not for medical reasons,” said Dipak Kotecha, a University of Birmingham professor of cardiology. Often, self-reported performance evidence from manufacturers is “low quality and biased.”

Back-to-back meetings at LSX? No time to attend the innovator showcase? Here is what you might have missed from medtech innovators at the LSX World Congress Europe on 29 April.

Vendor exhaustion, insufficient clinical-grade evidence, and outdated risk management are some of the reasons the NHS is struggling to adopt AI. Haris Shuaib, CEO of Newton's Tree, shared his insights with the audience at the “Next Frontier of Medical AI” event held at DAC Beachcroft's London office on 23 April.

Q’Apel Medical has pulled its aspiration system for stroke thrombectomy from the market after concerns raised by the US FDA in a February warning letter.

“Infectious disease should be treated in the community, not in hospitals,” Alex Batchelor, Pictura Bio CEO, told Medtech Insight at the Anglonordic Life Science Conference on 3 April in London.

AI systems used in healthcare are vulnerable to adversarial cyberattacks, which are a growing concern, said Atif Azad, a professor of AI at Birmingham City University. Azad’s research group has developed a method that trains AI to become more resilient to cyber threats through the use of random image adjustments.

The UK’s “New Approach” to regulation has created a lot of noise, but what’s the end product? asks Taylor Wessing partner Alison Dennis, who says the UK medtech regulator should look afresh at the EU’s ready-made solution.

Medtech has not yet been spared from the Trump administration’s trade tariffs, which, for UK exporters will be 10% – half the rate applied to EU27 exporters.

Cambridge, UK-based breath biopsy company Owlstone Medical will apply its volatile organic compound analysis platform in an attempt to develop a test for the identification and monitoring of pseudomonas aeruginosa in patients with cystic fibrosis.

Medtech Insight sat down with Anja Streicher, chief marketing officer at Women of Wearables, a global community offering events and education resources to support the femtech industry, to discuss trends in the women's wearables tech market, challenges and innovators pushing the boundaries.

Britain’s medtech system progress, smarter ways of working at the agency and getting smarter AI and digital technologies into circulation for patients, were themes woven through the UK MHRA board’s 18 March meeting.

Wearable technology must address women’s unique needs, said Anja Streicher, Women of Wearables chief marketing officer. Samphire Neuroscience and Amira Health demo wearable solutions for PMS and hot flashes at Wired Health.