Category: Future of MedTech

J&J DIGITAL SURGERY PLATFORM GROWS WITH 360 KNEE SYSTEMS

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]360 KNEE SYSTEMS is a known innovator of software-enabled digital solutions that personalise total knee replacement surgery. Under the agreement, 360 KNEE SYSTEMS will be available with DePuy Synthes’ ATTUNE Knee System in both Australia and New Zealand.

The 360 KNEE SYSEMS platform empowers patients to participate in and personalise their own treatment plan before, during and after total knee replacement surgery. It features smart technologies such as wearable devices to help surgeons plan the treatment pathway with their patients. This includes mapping each patient’s kinematic (body motion) data and preparing a 3D model of the knee to create a virtual surgery plan unique to them. Post-surgery, the 360 KNEE SYSTEMS platform provides the patient with a personalised rehabilitation and monitoring program.

Managing Director of Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices Companies in Australia & New Zealand, Sue Martin, said the company was excited about the ways digital health will help J&J redefine success is surgery and improve outcomes in addition to the company’s products and other solutions.

“Our agreement represents an exciting opportunity to provide an end-to-end digital solutions and surgical platform that brings the individual needs of patients right into the heart of decision making for their total knee replacement”, Ms Martin said.

The agreement will allow this technology to be used to provide further potential benefits for patients undergoing knee replacement surgery with the ATTUNE Knee, which is designed to work in harmony with a patient’s anatomy and deliver what they want from the procedure: stability in motion during daily activities.

To-date, the ATTUNE Knee has bene used for more than 650,000 knee replacements in 44 countries.

DePuy Synthes’ President of Global Joint Reconstruction, Tim Czartoski, said J&J Medical Devices has a proven track record in developing meaningful innovation, and he the company expects to be investing locally with 360 KNEE SYSTEMS.

“We are building a digital ecosystem where technologies are connected before, during and after surgery, in line with our aim to improve outcomes for patients as well as increase their overall satisfaction with their healthcare experience.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

THE ACTUATOR’S EIGHT PROMISING MEDTECH COMPANIES

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The Actuator, Australia’s venture-backed national accelerator for medical technologies today announced their second cohort of promising medtech seed ventures.

Supported by Australian Industry Growth Centre, MTPConnect and a plethora of ecosystem partners, The Actuator’s second cohort of companies will be put through their paces in a rigorous industry-led 15-month technology and entrepreneurial skill development accelerator program. Along with training, mentoring and connectivity to local and global networks, the program will provide up to $200,000 seed investment, and up to $2.5 million further funding through partners, Artesian.

After an intense selection and due diligence process, eight high-impact medtech startups were selected to participate in the 2018 Round 2 Actuator Accelerator program.

The second round of applications was extremely competitive and the quality of applications was exceptionally high, with 70 early-stage startups seeking to accelerate the commercialisation of their medtech innovations.

Capitalising on the Nation’s existing research, service and product development strengths, The Actuator will bring in the very best of Australia’s medtech and innovation system to prepare teams for clinical trials, advanced manufacturing and at-scale technology development.

The 8 successful participants are:

  1. TerraBlue XT – Medical grade, non-invasive, fully automated wearable system backed by an IoT/AI platform to predict, detect and manage epilepsy, scalable to other chronic neurological disorders.
  2. Curatek – A wireless disposable patch that continuously monitors respiratory rate to aid early warning of patient deterioration
  3. Stelect – A single use, novel catheter design for accurate stent selection the first time, every time.
  4. Augmented Bionics – Non-surgical ‘wearable’ alternative to cochlear implants.
  5. Rehabswift – A restorative brain-computer interface (BCI) to kick-start stroke recovery.
  6. Flomatrix – A novel catheter design aimed to reduce the current high PIVC failure rates
  7. Hexagon Innovation – Hexagon Innovation offers wearable technology that relieves worry about elderly people by detecting unusual events, falls or distress wherever they occur.
  8. Lenexa Medical – pressure injury (PI) prevention and detection in the operating theatre empowering clinicians to deliver targeted wound care interventions.

“Our mission is to support our home-grown talent within their local innovation ecosystems, and build incredible successes. We are eager to support such innovative and dynamic medtech startups, emerge out of Australia,” says Dr Buzz Palmer, CEO of The Actuator.

“The Actuator is an exciting initiative set to expedite technology transfer and research translation. MTPConnect congratulates the successful participants of the second round and we look forward to tracking the impact of these medical technologies.

“MTPConnect funded the Actuator in the 2016 round of our Project Fund Program, which was developed to bring together all players in the sector, to drive collaboration and commercialisation; overcoming identified constraints and barriers in the sector,” says Dr Daniel Grant CEO of MTPConnect.

The Victorian Government helped The Actuator to establish its headquarters in Melbourne and Minister for Innovation and the Digital Economy Philip Dalidakis said its programs were providing invaluable support to startups in a key sector.

“The Actuator is helping nurture innovative medtech startups as they take the next step in turning their great ideas and research into commercial success stories,” Mr Dalidakis said.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

BRIDGETECH PROGRAM ANNOUNCES PARTNERS AND 2018 COHORT

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Applications for the BridgeTech Program have been running over the past few months, and have so far received over 120 expressions of interest from researchers, business development professionals, entrepreneurs, medical professionals and more.

The BridgeTech Program is convened and administered by QUT and involves a consortium of partners who are delivering a program to train researchers and entrepreneurs on the scientific, legal, financial, clinical, regulatory and reimbursement disciplines related to taking medical technology to market.

This highly selective program is now enrolling 77 participants from around Australia, including:

  • 14 participants from New South Wales
  • 25 participants from Queensland
  • 8 participants from South Australia
  • 23 participants from Victoria
  • 7 participants from Western Australia

Further to the announcement of the selection of the 2018 participants, The BridgeTech Program also announced the consortium partners who will be contributing to the design and networking opportunities of the program.

Comprising medtech companies, universities and industry associations, consortium now has 20 partners including:

 Agilent Technologies IDE Group Stryker
AusBiotech Life Sciences Queensland The Actuator
Cochlear Macquarie University University of Melbourne
Deakin University Magnetica University of New South Wales
Flinders University MTAA University of Newcastle
Gadens Queensland University of Technology University of Western Australia
Hydrix
 Siemens Healthcare

Speaking on the importance of the partners, Professor Lyn Griffiths, Executive Director of QUT’s Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation (IHBI) and Director of The BridgeTech Program, said that “through its consortium of partners, the BridgeTech Program is unique in its ability to incorporate industry expertise, create key collaboration opportunities and draw on the breadth of knowledge needed to design an effective course.”

The BridgeTech Program is also supported by MTPConnect – the Medical Technologies and Pharmaceuticals Industry Growth Centre – who are providing industry matched funding to run the program.

At the first event last week, held in Brisbane, at the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation QUT, The BridgeTech Program hosted Lusia Guthrie as the first speaker for the 2018 cohort.

In addressing BridgeTech participants, Mrs Guthrie spoke of her experience and interest in the development and commercialisation of breakthrough healthcare products that embrace automation, robotics and machine learning.

Having over 35 years of experience in various sectors of healthcare, Mrs Guthrie shares her breadth of knowledge on bringing innovative products to global markets, embracing the entire process from concept to product launch, including company formation and capital raising.

This seminar is just the first of a series of talks that will be held in different cities around Australia for the 2018 cohort. Following this, BridgeTech participants will attend a 3-day face-to-face training session to be held at Luna Park in Sydney in November where they will consolidate their learning and create key collaborative networks in order to facilitate their commercialisation pathway.

“Developing this important educational initiative in partnership with industry means that participants will be provided with relevant and specific commercialisation training, advice and networks to better assist the commercialisation of medical technology and medical devices in Australia,” Professor Griffiths said.

The BridgeTech Program is the sister program of The Bridge Program, which is now in its second successful year and focuses on the skills needed for the commercialisation of pharmaceuticals rather than medical devices.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

3D PRINTING MEDTECH

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Implantcast’s vast manufacturing and clinical knowledge base now joins LifeHealthcare’s already comprehensive One At A TimeTM portfolio. A key addition is the inclusion of the only TGA approved silver coating for joint replacements. Silver coatings have been shown to mitigate the risk of infection induced implant loosening and more severe complications that can lead to revision surgery or in the worst case, amputation.

The One At A TimeTM process has been in operation now for almost three years and has demonstrated significant clinical history and has been used in cranial, complex orthopaedic and spine cases. The process utilises X-ray and CT data for implant design and surgical approach optimisation to potentially reduce surgical complications such as reoperation, implant migration, subsidence or delayed fusion, and total procedural cost.

Whilst the design and production of a PSI from request to implantation has many ‘behind the scene’ stages, the surgeon’s inputs are relatively concise.

The process starts with scans and surgeon prescription that outlines the patient’s pathology. The scan data is uploaded and then converted into a 3D virtual model in preparation for a design planning session.

The design planning session is where the surgical plan and implant requirements are defined in detail.  Utilising specialised software, implants and instruments can be designed in real time. This allows the surgeon to manipulate the PSI design on the fly to optimise their surgical plan and outcome.

Following the design planning session, a report is produced that outlines the surgical plan and implant design for the surgeon to approve.  In addition to surgeon design approval, a PSI requires financial approval to proceed to manufacture.

LifeHealthcare has dedicated internal resources focused on the regulatory and reimbursement process for PSIs that aid in streamlining approval.

LifeHealthcare also understand the challenges of treating patients with complex needs, and work with payers on healthcare economics to ensure the most appropriate treatment.

Once design and financial approval is received, the part goes into production.  Production involves raw manufacturing, finishing, cleaning and quality assurance.

A team of highly-trained and specialised employees are required for each element of this process.  Much of the work undertaken in the finishing department is done manually as machinery does not always achieve the best result, this is especially true when it comes to polishing of joint articulation surfaces.  Once ready, the PSI is then shipped to LifeHealthcare.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://vimeo.com/268913934″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Digital Health to Transform Australia’s Health System and Save Lives

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The report, developed after an expert roundtable initiated by the Consumers Health Forum and The George Institute for Global Health, says “the time is now ripe” to support the expansion of digital health technology in vital areas including chronic care and residential aged care.

The report is based on discussions held by around 40 consumers, clinicians, academics, government and industry supported by the Australian Digital Health Agency.

Roundtable attendees considered four sectors — chronic care, residential aged care, emergency care and end of life care — in terms of what is wanted from digital health, the current state of digital health in that sector and how to meet goals for the future.

The report says major progress is being made with My Health Record, e-prescriptions, patient registries, shared care portals, state-based digital health strategies and linked hospital patient information systems.

“The time is now ripe to leverage this maturing digital health capacity in ways that are meaningful to both consumers and providers. If done well, it has potential to be transformative for Australia’s health system bringing about rapid enhancements in quality, safety, accessibility and efficiency,” the CEO of the Consumers Health Forum, Leanne Wells, said.

“Digital disruption is not coming in health care – it is already here. For too long health has been lagging behind other sectors.

“For Australia to embrace digital health and benefit from its huge potential, we need national leadership. The COAG National Digital Health Strategy provides a foundation but what is needed is stronger, coordinated direction from the federal, state and territory governments.

“It would be good news for consumers to bring health into the 21st century but we need to be mindful that people have differing levels of health literacy and some will need support to embrace a digital health future or we risk inequities of access and knowledge.

“We need to invest in implementation and change management to avoid the risks and pitfalls that can accompany the roll-out of such powerful technology into a complex and sensitive area like health care,” Ms Wells said.

Professor David Peiris, Director of Health Systems Science at The George Institute, said emerging digital health strategies had the potential to transform Australia’s health system for both health care providers and consumers.

“Our report sets out clear recommendations on what is needed to enable people to be much more in control of their own health needs and to make informed choices about the care they choose – from urgent life-saving situations through to respecting their wishes at the end their life.

“We also want to ensure that every health professional in Australia can take full advantage of the digital health eco-system to improve people’s healthcare experience and provide care that can be co-ordinated across the system. Many Australians are tired of having to constantly repeat their story to multiple care providers and it’s vital that we tap into digital technology to ensure we deliver a more person-centred, safer and sustainable healthcare system.

“Australia has made a great start in its uptake of digital health technology and we have identified practical steps in several areas that could be rolled out rapidly. The challenge now is to ensure they are adopted.”

The recommendations identified by the roundtable included:

In chronic care: To trial virtual care teams to support patients with high care needs; and trial a “Patients Like Me” platform to enable patients with chronic and complex care needs to safely connect and share experiences with one another.

In residential aged care: Ensure that residents’ health and social services information is available in a single location, on a platform easily accessible by consumers and providers anywhere, anytime and on any device. Collate and publicise data that allows patients, their carers and future consumers to compare residential care facilities based on health outcomes and patient experiences.

In emergency care: Develop digital health technologies that leverage My Health Record data to be rapidly accessible to paramedics and other emergency providers; develop a text/image message system to support improved communication between emergency care and other medical teams and assist with referrals to other health care providers for post-discharge care.

In end of life care: Develop and promote existing professional and consumer portals that provider information on care options, medical services and pathways for those nearing end of life; and engage in targeted social media campaigns to encourage consumers and medical professionals to normalise conversations about death.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

STRATEGIC AGREEMENT, WHAT STRATEGIC AGREEMENT?

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Another issue mentioned, but not analysed in depth, is the future of the various healthcare agreements signed by the current government with major industry bodies such as the MTAA and Medicines Australia amongst others.

Labor’s Shadow Minister for Health, Catherine King, has made no secret of the fact that such agreements will not be binding on a future Labor Government, having stated at her post-budget breakfast briefing: “governments sign agreements not oppositions”.

In and off itself, it is not a major revelation, and not unexpected.  What has been missed though is that it would not make sense for Catherine King to honour such industry agreements.

With Labor committed to a two-year 2% freeze on private health insurance premium increases while it awaits the report of the Productivity Commission, come the third year of a Labor Government and it will face both a major policy and political challenge.

In the absence of major and wholistic structural reform of the healthcare system in its entirety following the two-year review, then in isolation Labor will be looking at a catch-up increase in PHI premiums of anywhere up to 10% or more.

The political challenge for Labor is this would coincide with preparations for an election at the end of what would be their first term.

Presiding over a potential 10% increase in PHI premiums going into a Federal Election would not be a political winner.

It is for this reason Catherine King and Labor in Government need maximum flexibility to deal with major healthcare stakeholder groups. Standing by individual industry agreements, with different cessation dates and different policy objectives, would not be in their interests.

In order to have a credible policy response to keeping any PHI premium increase as low as possible, Labor in Government and Catherine King as Health Minister would need to be able to articulate a wholistic policy response across the entirety of the healthcare supply chain and not its individual components.

Hence while some healthcare industry players may consider that Labors freeze of PHI premiums at 2% is of no consequence to them, they will need to think again.

It also explains why Catherine King has stated emphatically that in government she is not necessarily committed to the various industry agreement struck by the current government.

Something for all players in the healthcare industry to digest and calibrate strategically.[/vc_column_text][vc_zigzag][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”1915″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jody Fassina is the Managing Director of Insight Strategy and has been an strategic adviser to MedTech and pharmaceutical stakeholders.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

DISRUPTION IN HEALTHCARE: WHAT IS CHANGING

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Although disruption has not yet reached healthcare there are signs that that is beginning to change. The increasing focus on technology particularly wearables, entry of innovative giants into the healthcare space and renewed government investment and interest in fixing a public hospital crisis mean that disruption is coming. The clear warning to healthcare companies is adapt or die. Meanwhile for consumers this disruption could lead to healthcare as a whole shifting to the service driven model adopted by the likes of Uber. This model could dramatically improve consumers’ experiences and healthcare outcomes.

Medical technology has taken off in recent years drawing increasing investment and public attention. Of particular importance is the growth in health ‘wearables’ such as Fitbits. This sector has exploded in recent years with experts predicting wearables to be worth US$12.1 billion by 2021. Wearables are important as they are a consumer rather than expert driven product and allow users to track and monitor their own health.

In combination with developing diagnostic tools and the potential for AI health assistants such as Amazon’s ‘Alexa’, wearables could fundamentally change the way that we approach healthcare. This new focus on technology for individual users is a far cry from healthcare delivery even a few years ago. This new focus on individual users’ health outcomes (rather than the time spent treating them) could help companies disrupt the current fee-for-service model.

In addition to empowering individual consumers and shifting the healthcare delivery model wearables have allowed companies to gather health data on an unprecedented scale. These companies are beginning to enter the healthcare space with past disruptors Amazon and Apple both developing healthcare solutions. Amazon in particular with its focus on disrupting brick-and-mortar stores could pivot into providing online pharmacy services and through cutting out the pharmacist provide significant savings to consumers.

Similar services are already available in the UK where companies are allowing consumers to order repeat scripts online significantly improving compliance with medication directions. Meanwhile Apple is leveraging health data from the Apple Watch and its own employees through developing an in-house medical service to test future med-tech products and service delivery methods.

The Australian Government is also taking steps to encourage innovation in the healthcare space. Recent budgets have focussed on health spending and through programs like the Medical Research Future Fund the government is investing in Australia’s future healthcare needs. The government is also taking steps to assist innovators, through R&D tax incentives smaller start-ups get access to refundable credits while larger companies receive a tax offset.

Despite the changes following the 2018 budget, R&D tax incentives will still assist start-ups, especially in the area of healthcare where clinical trials have been exempted from the $4 million cap on cash refunds for companies with a turnover less than $20 million. These tax incentives have allowed Australian companies to focus on research and development and create innovative solutions to healthcare problems. For example, CancerAid has credited the scheme with providing them with the funding they needed to develop an app to allow cancer patients to connect with each other.

In addition to specific programs, the national focus on the failings of public hospitals could serve as a flashpoint that could encourage greater innovation and in turn disruption. In the last article we discussed how the fee-for-service model inherently disincentivises innovation and addressing this could disrupt the industry as a whole.

The current public hospital crisis has led to high costs and poor health outcomes and repeated attempts to fix it through increasing funding or pushing for efficiency the system continues to fall short. This suggests that innovation and disruption may be the only solution to ‘fix’ public hospitals in Australia, and as such will continue to receive both government and industry attention and support.

The final article in this series will discuss how disruption can be measured and what conclusions can be drawn from this in an Australian context.

Health Horizon is a start-up that empowers health consumers by allowing them to find and track health innovations that interest or affect them so that they can gain control over their health future.

*Regina E. Herzlinger, original article here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

DISRUPTION IN HEALTHCARE: WHERE ARE THE PROMISED CHANGES?

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Disruption is the ‘it’ word associated with companies like Uber, Amazon, eBay, SpaceX and Airbnb. These companies have disrupted the taxi industry, hotel sector, brick-and-mortar stores and even government space programs.

In many of these examples companies have used a consumer focussed service model and purported to return power to traditional consumers, who can now earn money from renting out a spare bedroom, selling second-hand possessions or through ridesharing.

The healthcare sector is a large and slow-moving beast which accounts for over 10% of Australia’s GDP. Some critics believe it to be inefficient with poor patient outcomes despite increasing government spending. Although these factors suggest that healthcare is a sector primed for disruption, to date there has been limited adoption of new technologies with no major changes to the healthcare delivery model.

Regulation has been acknowledged as an impediment to disruption. It slows down innovators and increases the cost of bringing new products to market. The healthcare sector in particular is extensively regulated, a ‘necessary’ measure given the high cost of mistakes. As lives are on the line, regulations often require lengthy and expensive clinical trials to determine whether a product is safe.

In addition, separate regulations around privacy and data storage requirements increase the complexity of the system for tech developers. This increases the costs faced by innovators, which in turn limits the number of newer start-ups and benefits larger already existing companies. As disruption has traditionally come from outside the industry, this concentration of development into larger companies in turn slows the speed of innovation.

The healthcare sector is known for its strong bias towards specialist knowledge. Doctors can train for up to ten years, at great expense. This centralisation of specialised knowledge means that innovators must convince key hospital staff to adopt their product for it to be successful. Given the length of their studies doctors have been trained to prefer particular methods for detection and treatment of certain illnesses.

Additionally, the strict licensing requirements and the risks posed by doctors if they go too far outside the realm of ‘accepted thinking’ mean that doctors are relatively set in their ways and are less likely to favour innovative solutions, especially where those solutions would cut doctors out the equation.

This concentration of knowledge also means that innovation is slowed by the current fee-for-service model. Under this model doctors and hospitals are rewarded for the time spent treating patients, not the time they saved through, for example, adopting an internet-based consultation system.

This means there is no incentive for doctors or hospitals to adopt technology that would reduce the time they spend with patients. It is this logic that led Goldman Sachs to suggest that developing cures could be bad for business. This means that uptake of any technology that would actually ‘disrupt’ the industry is slow, even where that disruption could be better for patients’ and government’s bottom lines.

Despite these factors, there are signs that innovation is starting to accelerate. The Australian Government is taking steps to accelerate this process, moving Australians’ health data onto a digital platform and providing additional funding for start-ups through programs like MTPConnect or the recently announced National Health and Medical Industry Growth Plan.

In the next article in this series we will address why disruption is a good thing and how organisations are working to bring change to the healthcare sector.

Health Horizon is a start-up that empowers health consumers by allowing them to find and track health innovations that interest or affect them so that they can gain control over their health future.

Read the original article here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]