The medical technology industry is emerging from a turbulent pandemic era strong, with some really exciting innovations making their way to patients, several of which we showcased in our recent Medical Technologies to Watch report. However, to realize the promise of these and other innovations, MedTech companies must navigate a fast-changing clinical, competitive and regulatory environment that presents a complex web of challenges. In our new report, MedTech Trends to Watch, we���ve identified five key trends that the industry is grappling with, including:
- The rise of ambulatory surgery centers in the United States, where procedures traditionally performed in hospitals are increasingly being done in outpatient settings. Clarivate data show a 30% growth in joint replacements at ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) from 2020 to 2022, with 60% of ASC leaders saying they expect this trend to continue. To adapt to this evolving delivery system, device companies need to understand ASC ownership structures, purchasing drivers and how procedure volumes are shifting between sites of service.
- The impact of GLP-1 drugs on MedTech sectors such as obesity intervention, orthopedics and aesthetics poses significant unknowns, with potential upsides as well as downsides for MedTech companies – in orthopedics, for example, some physicians anticipate that weight loss driven by GLP-1s like Wegovy(R) and Mounjaro(R) will bring a boom in procedures.
- The dealmaking environment appears primed for a resurgence after a post-pandemic retrenchment. Large MedTechs are being strategic in their mergers and acquisitions, splashing out on a relative handful of deals amid continued antitrust scrutiny in the U.S., but factors such as an aging global population and increased access to healthcare bode well for future activity.
- Supply chain disruptions have lessened considerably since the advent of COVID-19 but continue to pose a lingering threat as the industry builds in resiliency and the pendulum swings from lean management towards greater redundancy and diversification. This shift is being powered in part by enabling technologies such as enterprise resource planning and material management systems, incorporation of additive manufacturing/3-D printing and the use of AI to forecast demand and reliably source products.
- The implications of AI for MedTech , which has seen explosive growth in the number of AI/ML-assisted devices since 2020 but faces daunting regulatory challenges in harnessing these technologies for the benefit of patients. On the benefits side of the ledger, AI is enhancing precision, efficiency, and patient outcomes in fields like endoscopy and diagnostic imaging, but policymakers continue to play catch-up and asymmetries in the global regulatory framework abound, making collaborative efforts with regulators essential for innovation.
- Regulatory changes in Mainland China, like volume-based procurement (VBP) have opened up this fast-growing market to multinational MedTechs’ products, though price reductions of 50%-90% over other global markets place tremendous pressure on profitability, and domestic MedTechs are cropping up and putting up stiff competition in some sectors.
To identify this year’s MedTech Trends to Watch, Clarivate drew from the expertise of over 40 analysts covering 80-plus medical device markets across more than 50 countries globally, and integrated MedTech intelligence datasets that span the R&D and commercialization life cycle, along with other industry sources. Clarivate proprietary data and solutions used include MedTech 360, commercial targeting (Procedure Finder/Healthbase), tracking tools (Marketrack/PriceTrack), and Cortellis Competitive Intelligence™ and Cortellis Deals Intelligence™ and other real-world data analyses, including claims data and government data analytics.
Read the full MedTech Trends to Watch 2024 report here.
