Day 1 – Wednesday 3rd May

09:00 LSX Welcome Address

Caitlin McNally, Conference Director- Medtech Lead, LSX

09:10 Keynote Presentation: Defining The Future Of Medtech

The medtech sector has the potential to set record breaking growth in the next ten years. Navigating quieter M&A activity, raising funds in the current market, investing in sales and people, and clearing supply chain challenges are to name a few of the hurdles facing medtech companies. Companies that are agile and can keep pace with changing care models have the potential to outpace industry growth projections and generate large profits. How medtech companies need to plan their strategy is shifting. How can leaders adapt to the quickly evolving healthcare landscape and what will the industry look like in the years ahead?’

Jennifer Joe, MD, Director, Global Medical Strategy, AstraZeneca

09:30 Keynote Panel: Back To Reality – Reflecting On M&A Activity In The Medtech Market

Medtech offers a lucrative market for investors. With high barriers to entry, increasingly sophisticated technological innovations, and a host of clinical and nonclinical unmet needs to address, the industry looks set for years of profitable growth. The supercharged year of 2021 may have raised the expectations of some, and a quieter medtech market begs the question why pharma companies have achieved more value-creating growth than medtech companies? Additionally, why has medtech M&A not kept pace with industry growth overall? A panel of industry strategists discuss the challenges faced and the expected growth and pace of medtech M&A in the coming years.

• How is the current financial and strategic markets impacting M&A?
• What role does geopolitics play in M&A strategies?
• Are large medtechs looking beyond traditional M&A to access external innovation?
• Are leading medtechs more creatively selecting targets? What are they looking for?
• How should medtech companies best approach large corporates when considering potential acquisition?

10:15 Morning Break

11:10 Panel: Invested In Investment – A 360° Scrutiny Of Global Funding In The Medtech Arena

• Where are investors taking their funds and why?
• How does the funding landscape compare in the US? What do European medtech companies need to know?
• What role are PE firms playing globally and what does this mean for medtech companies?
• Venture vs corporate in the route to securing investment
• How are family offices reshaping the medtech industry?

12:00 Panel: Realising The American Dream – Taking Advantage Of The US Market

The US has replaced the Europe as the priority market for medical device companies, with an approximate of 89% of European medtech companies planning to prioritise FDA authorisation going forward. The lack of a common market in Europe alongside regulatory challenges are some of those pinpointed as the cause. However, the route to market in the US is no mean feat and challenges remain for medtech companies in the US medtech industry. The past few years have seen regulators on both sides of the Atlantic change their approach to Medtech. The biggest changes are occurring in Europe, where MDR and IVDR are redefining what it takes to bring products to market in the region. At the same time, the FDA has set the target of making the US the priority market for developers of novel devices. A panel of experts discuss what medtech companies need to consider when trying to break America.

• How do medtech companies approach the FDA?
• Risk in the US, how are the different medical device classes vulnerable to legal action statewide?
• What does the US funding landscape look like and how do companies get investment?
• Dealing with data protection policies across the states and what it means for integrated devices
• Product-Market fit, considerations for choosing a US base
  

12:50 Lunch Break

14:00 Panel: Navigating Challenges Medtech’s Next Era – Investment, Regulation And Strategic M&A

• Addressing challenges in raising capital
• Navigating the changing regulatory environment
• Trends and driver in healthcare M&A

Gunnar Sachs, Partner, Clifford Chance

14:40 Fireside Chat: Phoenix From The Ashes - Rebuilding A Medtech Campany

An in-depth war story on how to pull your medtech company out of the fire and turn around when in the face of bankruptcy. The CEO of ARTIDIS will tell the story of the challenges the company faced which took them to the brink of collapse through resetting, rebuilding, and scaling-up, to the importance of team and founder culture, and travelling the rocky road of reimbursement and regulations. This fireside chat looks at the realities of starting a medtech company from all angles, and what to do when it all goes wrong!

15:00 Panel: Missing In Medtech – A Spotlight On The Underserved Clinical Markets

With ongoing digital transformation of the industry, the medtech arena is poised now, more than ever, to strive towards innovation in areas of unmet clinical need. Unmet medical needs should help to shape policy and action from early phase research through clinical development, to pricing and reimbursement and how a new medical device is used in practice. But how research and health care communities define and quantify unmet medical need is challenging, and how medtech companies begin to address them even more so. A panel of key leaders discuss how medtech companies can tackle healthcare challenges.

• What are todays overlooked clinical needs and what commercial opportunities do they present?
• How can medtech further improve global access to healthcare and what are the commercial benefits?
• Compatibility issues - how do devices built for a developed healthcare system sit in developing countries?
• Challenges and pitfalls when accessing ‘niche’ markets
• What funding is available for companies tackling underserved markets?

15:40 Afternoon Break

16:20 Panel: Improving Market Access Strategies Across Europe

Although the second largest market for medical devices in the world, being a complex fragmented market coupled with the challenge of changing regulations paints a difficult landscape in Europe for those without deep pockets. The concern is these challenges may reduce the availability or access of innovative treatments for European patients. Though many medtech companies have made it across the finish line, the question is - how? A panel of experts discuss the current situation in Europe and how medtech companies can navigate the tricky waters of market access.

• What are the current market access conditions in Europe?
• How does geography influence routes to market and reimbursement throughout Europe? Does this differ across device classes?
• How soon do companies need to be thinking about their path to reimbursement and how is this integrated into strategy?
• Is talent the forgotten piece of the puzzle for success in reaching market?
• Thinking global – how do medtech companies get reimbursement in developing markets?

17:00 Panel: Peeling Back The Layers – The True Value Of A Medtech Device

The Medtech market is saturated with products promising to be the next best thing, but are they technical masterpieces without the clinical pay-off? A panel of experts discuss the role of product design in ensuring a product is truly valuable to the payer, the common mistakes in product development, and how companies can truly meet clinical needs.

• What factors do start-ups need to keep close to heart during product development?
• Is digital integration necessary and what modalities truly enhance a device?
• What potential does open-source product design have to tackle regulatory hurdles?
• 3D Printing and biomaterials - what are the potentials for class III devices?
• How can medtech companies tackle training and transferability of skills for payers?

17:40 Drinks Reception

Day 2 – Thursday 4th May

09:00 LSX Welcome Address

Caitlin McNally, Conference Director - Medtech Lead, LSX

09:15 Keynote Panel: Where Do We Go From Here? Marking A New Era In Medtech

The last few tumultuous years have uprooted and shaken the medtech industry, and the opportunities of a new era have arrived. The pandemic shone a bright light on the critical role of medical technology in delivering effective functioning of the health care system. The future of health is expected to be driven by an integrated system of health and well-being, with transformational technologies playing a large role. When it comes to medtech, we expect medical devices to combine hardware and software to allow customers to diagnose and perhaps even treat medical conditions at home. The potential to redesign the healthcare system is clear, but what role will the Medtech industry play? How will the lines blur with biotech and healthtech as we anticipate the possibility of a holistic healthcare system?

• How are leading Medtech companies evolving with the changing healthcare landscape?
• How is the industry viewing commercial partnerships and convergence?
• How has strategy for commercialisation changed in response to changing regulations?
• Where are market leading medtech’s taking their products?

10:15 Morning Break

11:10 Panel: Holistic And Patient-Centric – Digitisation Of Medtech And The Future Of Care

With an increasingly overburdened healthcare system and a rising prevalence of chronic disease worldwide, where do medical devices fit in the grand scheme of care? Digital transformation has seen medtech companies adopting digital technologies as a core part of their approach to approve patient outcomes as devices become ever more integrated. But what role can medical devices play in the shift towards intervention, preventive and integrated care models, and how is this reconciled with a highly specialised healthcare system?

• The role of robotics and AI in medtech
• How do we turn data into actionable insights?
• How can medtech companies can collaborate in the move towards integrated health care systems?
• Should medtech companies be focussing on horizontal platforms to tackle clinical needs?
• The link between chronic disease care and preventive medicine and how medtech can fill the gap

12:00 Panel: Jumping Through Hoops - Managing Regulatory Hurdles

Having been in application approaching two years, medtech companies across Europe have seen a considerable backlog of applications to notified bodies, expiring certificates and removal of CE Marks. Although the relevant authorities have highlighted strong concerns regarding the new regulations, for the foreseeable, they are here to stay. A panel of key leaders discuss how medtech companies can navigate the new regulatory landscape and the unexpected benefits a harsher regulatory landscape may bring.

• How can medtech companies shorten regulatory pathways?
• What unique challenges are faced across the device classes and how can these be addressed?
• How can you access an expert panel for advice?
• Losing CE marking – what next?
• What alternate regulatory pathways are provided by the FDA?
• What do the new regulations mean for innovation and how can companies benefit?

12:50 Lunch Break

14:00 Panel: Funding A-Z – A Roadmap To Approaching Investment In 2023 And Beyond

The rush of ‘COVID cash’ and new investors in the healthcare arena provided entrepreneurs ample supply of funding and high valuations. Now, the buzz has quietened to a hum and lower valuations, and more selective investments, have ushered in a steadier funding landscape. Some medtech companies may be struggling to maintain the momentum generated by the pandemic, whilst newer faces in the industry may be having a tougher time attracting investment overall. A panel of medtech investors discuss how best to approach and attract investment across a company’s lifecycle.

• How can companies optimise their structure and configuration to raise funding from investors?
• What are investors looking for and how can medtech companies prepare their approach accordingly?
• How investors are managing market volatility and how is this affecting funding?
• How do we bring start-ups in Europe to medium to large size companies?

14:40 Panel: Trialling New Methods – Clinical Trial Design

Whilst being the foundation of successful development of medical devices and diagnostics, executing successful clinical trials is always complicated. Having come to a standstill during the pandemic and with reallocation of medical resource, the healthcare system is now thoroughly over-burdened. Stricter regulatory environments mean that medtech companies need to consider now, more than ever, how they design their clinical trials. A panel of industry experts discuss how medtech companies can plan to achieve success and why clinical trial design needs to move with the times.

• How are changing regulations affecting clinical trial design, what do medtech companies need to consider?
• What are the challenges in the planning, implementation and close-out phases of clinical trial design and how can these be tackled?
• Decentralised and digital trials, what are the benefits?
• What role does clinical trial design play in ESG compliance?
• A look to the future, the benefits, and challenges of inSilico Trials

15:20 Panel: In Pursuit Of ESG – Are You Incinerating Profit?

The healthcare industry leaves a heavy footprint on our climate. With the push for ESG priorities across every industry, sustainability should be moving up the priority ladder within the medtech community. Many companies have yet to meaningfully address their contributions to climate change. The sector needs to revisit business models and develop new ESG strategies to keep a competitive edge, but how companies can practically implement or benefit from ESG policies remains elusive. A panel of key players across the industry discuss why ESG is not only ethical, but lucrative.

• How do medtech companies need to transform current operating models and supply chains to build value?
• Are investors moving towards companies with a track record of ESG strategy?
• How can ESG principles be implemented across medical device classes? What are the commercial benefits?
• How are big medtech companies championing the way in industry?
• What processes can be implemented in product design? How can we consider a second life for medical devices?

16:00 Close of Congress