Archives for February 2023

Top 80 Medical Device Conferences in 2025 – 2026

6 min reading time

Medical Device Conferences 2025-2026 is our most comprehensive list of medical device conferences, trade shows, events, and meetings for the medical device industry.
These are the conferences, trade shows, and events the world’s leading professionals attend to do business, learn, and build and solidify relationships.
We at the Medical Devices Group make every effort for the list to be the best and most complete.


If an event is missing, please add it for free:

      1. Advancing Digital Therapeutics Summit
        February 11-12, 2025 • Boston, MA

        Dedicated to navigating the rapidly evolving DTx industry. This summit will gather 60+ leaders from across the digital therapeutics, healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors to accelerate the commercialization and patient adoption of digital therapeutic products. With 18+ cutting-edge case studies, regulatory discussions, and commercialization strategies, this event will help you overcome the barriers to scaling digital therapeutics, aligning with regulatory frameworks, driving patient engagement, and forming payor partnerships. As DTx technologies continue to transform healthcare, this year’s summit will showcase the latest innovations in AI integration, novel reimbursement avenues and alternative regulatory pathways to achieve commercial viability.
      2. 17th Annual Outsourcing in Clinical Trials West Coast 2025
        February 11-12, 2025 • Burlingame, CA, USA

        This conference will bring leading industry professionals together to share knowledge, with a focus on collaboration, advancing clinical development and concentrating on clinical operations, innovation, and technology.
      3. 6th Glioblastoma Drug Development Summit
        February 18-20, 2025 • Boston, MA

        Progress is on the horizon for the GBM field as innovative therapies and a deeper understanding of glioblastoma biology begin to emerge. Servier’s recent approval of vorasidenib for Grade 2 IDH-mutant glioma has sparked renewed hope in a space that has long struggled with limited treatment options. This milestone brings inspiration to the glioblastoma community, where the urgent need for effective treatments remains.
        As we look toward 2025, a year that could mark a turning point in glioblastoma treatment, it is more important than ever to unite the community and deepen our understanding of these critical developments. Securing new treatment approvals for patients who desperately need them is a mission that cannot wait.
      4. 9th Liquid Biopsy for Precision Oncology Summit
        February 18-20, 2025 • San Diego, CA

        Over the past 12 months, liquid biopsy testing has continued to revolutionize diagnostics and personalized medicine; from the integration of AI and automation to elevate liquid biopsy capabilities, to the approval of MRD as an endpoint in Multiple Myeloma.
        Cementing its position as the world’s leading forum for liquid biopsy specialists, the 9th Liquid Biopsy for Precision Oncology Summit returns to San Diego in February – with a refreshed agenda providing crucial insights spanning biomarker discovery to commercialization, and each critical step in between.
      5. TRP: Target Selection & Drug Design Summit
        February 25-27, 2025 • Boston, MA

        A dedicated forum to advancing novel radiopharmaceutical drug discovery. Delve deep into target mining, screening, discovery and selection from ROR1, uPAR, B7-H3, NECTIN-4, CAIX and more. Understand advances in radiobiological, radiodecay and radiation absorption mechanisms to inform optimal targeting strategies from small molecule, peptide, nanobodies, antibody fragments as well as linker and chelator technologies for enhanced PK. Bringing it all together, gain a commercial perspective to enhance your strategic decision-making in target selection and novel drug rationale within this highly dynamic field.
      6. 9th Digital Strategy & Innovation for Medical Affairs Summit
        February 26-27, 2025 • Philadelphia, PA, United States

        Prepare for the industry’s premier event about novel technologies and digital transformation among medical affairs teams! This year’s all-new agenda offers unprecedented detail on optimizing digital innovation, working with regulatory and legal review partners, and exploring how to establish a culture on innovation.
      7. Multidisciplinary Surgical Leadership & OR Management Symposium 2025
        February 27-March 1, 2025 • Phoenix, AZ US

        Join us for an immersive exploration into the intricacies of operating room leadership, where success hinges on seamless collaboration across diverse disciplines. This symposium offers a multidisciplinary forum dedicated to navigating the forefront of operating room leadership. Engage with an array of compelling topics such as: Unveiling workforce trends, mastering operating room leadership, greening the operating room, articulating strategies to the C-Suite, and decoding operating room technology/design 101
      8. Highlights In GI ONCOLOGY
        February 28-March 1, 2025 • Orlando, USA

        The program features in-depth discussion and analysis of the latest scientific findings and practice-changing advances in GI cancer treatment. Expert faculty will review the findings, discuss the results potential impact on the current standard of care, and apply the results within the clinical context of a patient case.
      9. Updates in Advanced Breast Cancer: Local Management and Other New Perspectives
        February 28-March 1, 2025 • Houston, USA

        The conference dives deep into the changing world of breast cancer treatment, focusing on the latest updates for triple-negative, inflammatory, locally advanced, and metastatic breast cancers. Our team of experts, including specialists from MD Anderson and beyond, will show you the power of working together as a multidisciplinary team. You’ll learn how to identify specific genetic and protein markers linked to breast cancer. Through real-world discussions and case studies, you’ll gain practical insights into providing top-notch, patient-centered care. We’ll also spotlight ongoing clinical trials that offer new hope for treating advanced, rare, and aggressive breast cancers. Our goal is to give you the tools to improve diagnostic accuracy, tailor treatments to each patient’s unique cancer profile, assess how well treatments are working, and know when to refer patients to clinical trials. By joining this activity, you’ll not only keep up with the latest advancements but also develop the skills needed to navigate the complex world of breast cancer care. This knowledge is essential for making informed decisions that can significantly improve patient outcomes and push breast cancer treatment forward.
      10. Cardiac Rhythm Devices 2025 CNE Nursing Conference
        March 3-4, 2025 • Phoenix, AZ

        This conference is designed to enhance clinical practice to care for patients with cardiac implantable devices. Topics include electrophysiology, cardioneural ablation, carotid sinus sensitivity, new afib guidelines, programming and troubleshooting, new devices, orientation/training, a unique patient story, and more.
      11. 10th Annual Innate Killer Summit
        March 3-5, 2025 • San Diego, CA

        As the NK community remains determined as ever to prove the advantages of NK cells, the year of the ‘bounce back’ now feels within reach. Driven by expansion into autoimmune pipelines, Artiva’s $160M IPO marks a sizeable return of investment into this space. It is now business critical for NK developers to capitalize on the new momentum building and showcase clinically validated pipelines to investors to demonstrate the potential of NK therapies and bring long lasting benefit to patients in need.
      12. Medical Device Regulations in the Middle East and North Africa Training Course
        March 10-11, 2025 • London, UK

        The size of the medical device market in the Middle East has expanded over recent years and this trend is forecast to continue. The growth is due in part to innovations in technology as the majority of Middle Eastern countries are early adopters of technological advancement, which provides opportunities for medical device companies. The regulatory environment in the region is also developing and this annual seminar will provide an essential overview of the key requirements for product approvals for medical devices in the Middle East and North Africa.
      13. AAOS 2025 Annual Meeting
        March 10-14, 2025 • San Diego, California

        Mark your calendars and make plans to join your colleagues in San Diego, CA, from March 10–14, for AAOS 2025. Registration opens on November 13. Don’t miss this incredible opportunity to learn, network, and advance your orthopaedic practice.
      14. 4th Cell Therapy Potency Assay Summit
        March 11-13, 2025 • Boston, MA

        In the ever-evolving cell therapy landscape, the challenge of potency assay development remains critical. With the field anticipating finalized regulatory guidelines from the FDA, the need to link mechanisms of action to potency assays scientifically has never been more urgent.
        At the 4th Cell Therapy Potency Assay Summit, we unite analytical development, quality control, and regulatory experts to tackle these pressing issues. Our goal is to collaboratively design robust potency assays that not only conform to changing guidelines but also streamline patient access to the next generation of cell therapies.
      15. 6th Supply Chain & Logistics for Cell & Gene Therapies Summit
        March 11-13, 2025 • Boston, MA

        As the cell and gene therapy (CGT) pipeline matures and new, exciting technologies scale into the clinic, the success of delivering the growing number of complex CGTs to patients in a safe and timely manner relies on robust and resilient global supply chains.
      16. Medical Technology UK
        March 12-13, 2025 • Coventry Building Society Arena, UK

        This event for the UK MedTech sector to showcase the latest advancements, innovations, and strategies in medical technology development and manufacturing. With a focus on connecting professionals across design, engineering, and manufacturing, this event is a vital platform for exploring new solutions, building partnerships, and driving innovation in the MedTech industry.
      17. 22nd BioPharma Clinical Trials Nexus
        March 13-14, 2025 • Basel, Switzerland

        The BioPharma Clinical Trials Nexus stands as an exclusive and prestigious conference, accessible only by invitation, uniting prominent clinical trial executives with forward-thinking suppliers and solution providers. The conference content is carefully curated to address crucial clinical trial challenges and interests, stay abreast of pertinent market advancements, and showcase practical and progressive ideas and strategies implemented by successful trailblazers.
      18. 3rd Global Conference on Pharma Industry and Medical Devices (GCPIMD-2025)
        March 13-14, 2025 • Melbourne,Australia

        The primary goal of the conference is to promote research and developmental activities in Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Science. Another goal is to promote scientific information interchange between researchers, developers, engineers, students, and practitioners working in Japan and abroad. The conference will be held every year to make it an ideal platform for people to share views and experiences in Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Science and related areas.
      19. Medical Device R&D Summit
        March 17-18, 2025 • Boston, MA

        Finding new ways to do more with less amid marketing market pressures while maintaining speed to market and product quality
      20. 7th CKD Drug Development Summit
        March 17-19 2025 • Boston, MA

        The transformative era of kidney drug development is here, with 2024 bringing landmark advancements, including Novartis’ Borealis Biosciences and approvals in IgAN, Travere Therapeutics, and industry-defining acquisitions by Biogen and Vertex. Breakthrough therapies like SGLT2 inhibitors, GLP-1s, and MRAs continue to reshape the CKD treatment paradigm, while the FDA’s accelerated pathways fuel unprecedented innovation. We are witnessing a renaissance in chronic kidney disease research and development and treatment.
      21. LSI EMERGING MEDTECH SUMMIT USA
        March 17-21, 2025 • Dana Point, CA

        LSI USA convenes executives from emerging companies, venture capital and private equity firms, family offices, global strategics, professional service providers, and more.
      22. 2025 European Implantable Devices Post-Market Surveillance & Vigilance Conference
        March 19-21, 2025 • Berlin, Germany

        This event will bring together industry experts to discuss the latest trends and best practices in post-market surveillance for implantable devices. Topics include regulatory updates, risk management, adverse event reporting, and strategies to ensure device safety and compliance throughout its lifecycle.
      23. 13th Medical Device Safety Monitoring Reporting and Surveillance
        March 26-28, 2025 • San Diego, CA

        Identify Information That Defined Requirements for Timely EU MDR Submission, Streamline Systematic Literature Review to Support Post-Market Literature Surveillance,Align Post Market and Clinical Reporting Deliverables, Identify Novel Approaches to Data Collection, Signals and Trends to Optimize Compliant Management
      24. FDA (Food and Drug Administration) Approval Process for Medical Devices Training Course
        March 31 – April 1, 2025 • London, UK | Virtual

        This seminar will provide a solid foundation in the approval and clearance processes for medical devices in the United States. Participants will gain an understanding of the underlying legal and regulatory requirements and the general controls applicable to all devices, including device classification, establishment registration and device listing. With the underlying framework in mind, the approval and clearance processes for new and modified devices will be presented, including 510(k), IDE, PMA, HDE and De Novo applications. Application contents, review processes, timelines, and key guidance documents will be discussed for each major type of submission. Participants will also learn about the pre-submission process, which FDA strongly recommends to help ensure the successful submission of novel devices.
      25. International Pharmaceutical and Biopharmaceutical Trade Show and Conference 2025
        April 1-3, 2025 • Javits Center, NYC

        INTERPHEX offers an expansive exhibition floor showcasing cutting-edge products and services from industry leaders. Attendees and exhibitors engage in enlightening seminars led by experts, delve into technology showcases spotlighting the latest innovations, and benefit from unparalleled networking opportunities. This dynamic platform unites professionals, fostering collaborations and providing a comprehensive view of advancements in pharmaceutical manufacturing, process development, and regulatory compliance. Elevate your industry knowledge, connect with key stakeholders, and stay at the forefront of pharmaceutical innovation at INTERPHEX.
      26. 4th ACE Clinical Trials Summit
        April 2-3, 2025 • The Insurance Hall, London, UK

        4th ACE Clinical Trials Summit, 2025 provides a platform to discuss main trends, current challenges and futuristic advancements in clinical trials and clinical research occurring in pharma world. Senior-level experts from top pharma companies will be sharing their professional insights and experiences related to the new clinical trials formats, rare disease trials and their best approaches, patient safety perspectives, building and implementing data-driven site selection approaches, wearables clinical trials, risks and benefits from a scientific and an operational perspective and much more.
      27. Diabetic Limb Salvage Conference 2025
        April 10-12, 2025 • Washington DC, USA

        DLS is proud to partner again with the Wound Healing Foundation, enhancing the conference’s commitment to excellence in wound care. WHF was founded on the commitment to wound care and to provide patients, researchers, and health professionals the resources to make significant contributions in wound healing.
      28. 33rd Annual A4M Spring Congress
        April 24-26,2025 • West Palm Beach, FL

        Explore the latest breakthroughs in medical science and technology with a mission of Living Longer, Living Better. This year’s theme highlights the potential of longevity medicine to transform not just the length but the quality of your patient’s lives.
      29. Pharmaceutical Compliance Congress
        April 28-30, 2025 • Ritz Carlton Tysons Corner, VA, United States

        The Pharmaceutical Compliance Congress (PCC) is a prominent event that gathers professionals from the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries to discuss regulatory compliance, industry best practices, and legal issues. The congress typically covers topics such as FDA regulations, compliance strategies, quality assurance, risk management, and ethical concerns in the industry. It provides a platform for networking, learning, and sharing insights on maintaining compliance while navigating the complex regulatory landscape in the pharmaceutical sector.
      30. Pre Filled Syringes and Injectable Drug Devices East Coast
        April 28-30, 2025 • Boston, USA

        As part of SAE’s leading Injectable Drug Delivery Series, the 2025 conference will be bigger and better than ever, bringing you 3 days of expertise, comprising of a pre-conference focus day exploring the advances in PFS design for enhanced drug delivery proceeded by a two-day main conference with morning keynote plenaries and parallel afternoon topic streams addressing the industry’s hottest topics through case studies and industry insights.
      31. Excellence in Sterilizing Medical Devices 2025
        April 28-30, 2025 • Chicago, IL

        Permit manufacturers to discuss contemporary challenges to design, supply, transportation, containerizing and packaging of devices while ensuring sustained production, product performance, and sterility assurance in the face of evolving rules and regulations. Attendees will walk away with strategies to plan for existing and future capacity constraints while adopting cost effective EO reduction strategies and alternative modalities such as X-Ray, E-Beam, Alternative Gases, and more. Furthermore, attendees will learn how to manage risk for process control, microbial contamination, and production impacts while maximizing the knowledge and leadership strengths of sterility and microbiology experts within their organizations.
      32. LSX World Congress Europe
        April 28-30,2025 • London, UK

        The LSX World Congress is Europe’s leading partnering, strategy, and investment event, with qualified 1:1 partnering at its core.
        We gather senior life science industry decision-makers from the world’s most innovative biopharma, medtech and healthtech companies with investors, senior BD&L teams, R&D leaders and industry KOLs.
        Together, they share best practices, forge partnerships, and discuss investment – to revolutionise healthcare.
      33. Making Pharmaceuticals Exhibition & Conference 2025
        April 29-30, 2025 • Coventry, UK

        The Making Pharmaceuticals Conference and Distributing Pharmaceuticals Conference run concurrently across the two days of the event, with eight theatres in total covering topics across the whole product lifecycle from discovery to distribution. Gain new knowledge, be inspired and challenge your existing thinking. All sessions are free to attend to pre-registered visitors.
      34. Medtech Strategist Innovation Summit
        April 29-May 1, 2025 • Dublin, Ireland

        Discover the power of connections at the original medical device partnering conference. Engage with the world’s cutting-edge medical device start-ups, collaborate with investors, VCs, and the world’s biggest strategics.
      35. DeviceTalks Boston
        April 30-May 1, 2025 • Boston, MA

        The conference features expert-led sessions, product showcases, and networking opportunities, covering topics such as regulatory updates, device design, manufacturing, and commercialization. Attendees gain valuable insights into the evolving medtech landscape, while connecting with key industry leaders and potential partners to drive innovation and business growth.
      36. Conference on Cochlear Implants 2025
        April 30 – May 3, 2025 • Boston, MA

        The themes of CI2025 Boston include cochlear implant candidacy and outcomes in asymmetric hearing loss, what can be done to improve CI access to underserved pediatric and adult populations, maximizing CI outcomes at both ends of the age spectrum, accessibility for cochlear implant and hearing aid users to other technologies, the future of gene therapy for children and adults with hearing loss, cochlear implants in the hearing health continuum: the US and around the world, access to hearing health by children with congenital CMV, listening, Language, Literacy in children with hearing loss
      37. 5th ACE CLINICAL TRIALS SUMMIT
        May 1-2, 2025 • AC Hotel Boston Downtown, USA

        5th ACE CLINICAL TRIALS SUMMIT, 2025 provides a platform to discuss main trends, current challenges and futuristic advancements in clinical trials and clinical research occurring in pharma world. Senior-level experts from top pharma companies will be sharing their professional insights and experiences related to the new clinical trials formats, rare disease trials and their best approaches, patient safety perspectives, building and implementing data-driven site selection approaches, wearables clinical trials, risks and benefits from a scientific and an operational perspective and much more.
      38. Precision In Medical Devices Summit 2025
        May 5-6, 2025 • Boston Park Plaza

        Join us at our 11th Precision in Medical Devices Summit Boston (PMD Summit) for a two-day journey into the insightful world of Medical Devices. You’ll connect with an incredible gathering of experts and uncover practical advice from industry-leading researchers and executives. Get ready for an event designed to deliver real value-packed insights, and connections with fellow professionals, and learn strategies you can use the next day.
      39. 10×2025: Humanizing MedTech
        May 7-8, 2025 • Hyatt Regency Newport Beach, CA

        At 10x 2025: Humanizing MedTech MDG Premium and MedTech Leading Voice are coming together to create something real – a conference built around connection, learning, and action. This isn’t about sitting through lectures or wandering vendor halls. It’s about you. You’ll engage directly with startups, consultants, investors, and industry leaders who share your vision and are ready to collaborate. Whether you’re looking to master regulatory strategies, drive innovation, or scale your business, you’ll leave this event inspired and equipped with the tools and connections to make it happen.
      40. 23nd BioPharma Clinical Trials Nexus
        May 7-8, 2025 • San Francisco, CA, United States

        The BioPharma Clinical Trials Nexus stands as an exclusive and prestigious conference, accessible only by invitation, uniting prominent clinical trial executives with forward-thinking suppliers and solution providers. The conference content is carefully curated to address crucial clinical trial challenges and interests, stay abreast of pertinent market advancements, and showcase practical and progressive ideas and strategies implemented by successful trailblazers.
      41. The MedTech Forum
        May 13-15, 2025 • Lisbon, Portugal

        The 2025 programme will feature leading voices in the medical technology community, including industry experts and key stakeholders. Together, we will tackle the ever- evolving opportunities and challenges for our industry, from innovation and digital transformation to regulatory developments and sustainability.
        I encourage you to take full advantage of the many networking opportunities throughout the event. Whether it’s sharing ideas, forging new partnerships, or reconnecting with colleagues, these moments are where some of the most valuable insights and collaborations are born.
      42. RAPS Euro Convergence 2025
        May 13-16, 2025 • Berlin, Germany

        RAPS Euro Convergence is the most comprehensive regulatory affairs conference in Europe, focusing on the latest topics and developments in healthcare products in Europe and beyond — with sessions in medical devices, IVDs, pharmaceuticals, combination products, regulatory business, AI, software, and cybersecurity.
      43. Pharma Partnering US Summit 2025
        May 14-15, 2025 • San Diego, CA, USA

        The Pharma Partnering US Summit 2025 is a key event that brings together leaders from the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and life sciences industries for strategic networking and collaboration. The summit focuses on partnerships, licensing deals, and innovation in drug development. Attendees, including executives, investors, and researchers, will explore opportunities to accelerate the growth of new therapies, share insights on market trends, and discuss emerging challenges in the industry. It serves as a platform for forging partnerships and advancing business strategies in the evolving pharma landscape.
      44. 12th Human Factors and User Experience for Medical Device Design
        May 14-16, 2025 • Chicago, IL

        This marcus evans conference will address significant industry advancements, notably in digitally integrated medical devices and AI-driven applications. This event will offer a unique platform for exploring the latest in regulatory guidance, including updates from the FDA’s 2022 draft guidance on human factors. Attendees will gain insights into innovations like remote formative testing, training decay methodologies, and strategies for enhancing user satisfaction. This conference will connect Human Factors and UX leaders, fostering knowledge exchange to optimize patient outcomes and device usability.
      45. Biological Evaluation of Medical Devices Training Course
        May 15-16, 2025 • London, UK

        This seminar offers essential guidance on effectively utilizing the ISO 10993 standards and integrating a robust risk management approach into the biological evaluation process of medical devices. Participants will have ample opportunity to engage in interactive discussions with industry experts, gaining practical insights and best practices.
        Attendees will emerge equipped with the knowledge and tools necessary to navigate regulatory requirements, mitigate risks, and ensure the safety and efficacy of medical devices in compliance with global standards.
      46. 11th IBTN Symposium
        May 19-20, 2025 • Chicago, USA

        The IBTN Annual Meeting provides numerous opportunities for you to hear the latest research discoveries from the experts, learn about technology advances in the field, participate in panel discussions and poster presentations, and build new network.
      47. MD&M East
        May 20–22, 2025 • New York, NY

        Our six-in-one design and manufacturing expo is designed to give you a comprehensive view of the product lifecycle—from prototype to production. Come explore the latest insights and solutions spanning medtech, packaging, automation, plastics, design, and quality.
      48. Pharma Partnering EU Summit 2025
        May 22-23, 2025 • Brussels, Belgium

        The Pharma Partnering EU Summit 2025 is a major event designed to connect leaders from the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and life sciences sectors across Europe. It focuses on fostering strategic partnerships, licensing opportunities, and collaborations to drive innovation in drug development and bring new therapies to market. The summit brings together industry executives, investors, and researchers to discuss emerging trends, challenges, and opportunities in the European pharma landscape, facilitating valuable networking and partnership-building for business growth.
      49. Fifth WHO Global Forum on Medical Devices
        June 2-6, 2025 • Geneva, Switzerland

        The programme of the 5th GFMD, will consider sessions on: Selection of Priority Medical Devices, Medical Devices information system, Essential in vitro diagnostics, innovation, regulation, health technology assessment for medical devices, health technology management (needs assessment, procurement, technical specifications, donations, maintenance and appropriate safe use), local production and technology transfer of medical devices, sustainability, development of national lists, human resources for medical devices, primary health care and the relation with the disease areas: communicable, emergencies and non-communicable.
      50. Outsourcing in Clinical Trials: Medical Devices USA 2025
        June 3-4, 2025 • Minneapolis, USA

        With presentations and panel discussions on industry trends and outsourcing challenges, this 2-day event is a must-attend for the medical device and diagnostics community. Network with industry peers, collaborate with trial sponsors, manufacturers, and vendors, and tackle post-MDR challenges together.
      51. European Medical Device Summit
        June 3-4, 2025 • Düsseldorf, Germany

        This event offers valuable insights and tactics to enhance the professional growth of executives engaged in medical device aspects such as design, product development, innovation, technology and quality/regulatory matters. Engage in discussions alongside more than 200 peers from your industry where we will delve into the complexities and possibilities within medical device innovation, regulatory alignment, compliance, digital transformation, and more.
      52. Med-Tech Innovation Expo
        June 4-5, 2025 • Birmingham, UK

        We’re making it easier for you to innovate and improve life changing medical devices. You’ll find everything you need to support your role in design, manufacture and optimise medical devices, including specialist technology, materials and components, software, machines, applications and more.
        Our exclusive online Event Hub helps you build a personalised diary of conference sessions and meetings, discover recommended products and suppliers, and connect with your peers before the event.
      53. Florida International Medical Expo (FIME) 2025
        June 11-13, 2025 • Miami Beach Convention Center

        At FIME, our dedication to creating a premier experience for the healthcare community remains unwavering. Don’t miss your chance to build essential business relationships through our expansive channels, connecting you directly to key players in the international healthcare landscape. Together, let’s drive progress and shape the future of healthcare.
      54. DIA 2025 Global Annual Meeting
        June 15-19, 2025 • Washington, DC

        Join us at the DIA 2025 Global Annual Meeting—the ultimate hub for industry visionaries, regulators, government leaders, academics, innovators, and patients. Set in the dynamic city of Washington DC, this premier event invites global stakeholders to unite, collaborate, and ignite transformation in the life sciences.
      55. OMTEC 2025 – Orthopaedic Manufacturing & Technology Exposition and Conference
        June 17, 2025 • Chicago

        The lineup will deliver solutions, actionable advice and best practices on topics of greatest importance to you and your team. Optimizing biocompatibility amid FDA’s increased scrutiny, identifying alternative sterilization methods and packaging solutions and exploring the promise of AI (artificial intelligence) in supply chain decisions only scratch the surface of the education courses at OMTEC. We also delve into helping you build collaborative, strategically focused teams and provide guidance to help you execute difficult conversations and build your leadership skills.
      56. 85th Scientific Sessions
        June 20-23, 2025 • Chicago, IL

        The Scientific Sessions Meeting Planning Committee is hard at work developing a challenging and engaging educational program that reaches across diverse disciplines to present topics of relevance to diabetes care and treatment
      57. Swiss Medtech Day 2025
        June 25, 2025 • Kursaal Bern

        The Swiss Medtech Day provides a platform for discussing these challenges. By sharing experiences, best practices, and innovative approaches, participants can collaboratively devise strategies to navigate complexity and ensure the industry’s future viability.
        Swiss medical technology industry’s need to navigate the impact of global events, including the pandemic’s consequences, geopolitical uncertainties, energy crises, and climate change-related challenges requiring competences in corporate agility, networks / collaborations and global markets.
      58. Society of Robotic Surgery 2025 Annual Meeting
        July 16-20, 2025 • Strasbourg, France

        The Society of Robotic Surgery will encompass robotics, minimally invasive, NOTES and single port access surgery. This will provide the diversity to allow us to adapt to changes in technology and will provide an innovative forum in which to expand our horizons and improve our clinical and academic potential.
      59. MedTech Summit
        June 16-20, 2025 • Berlin, Germany | Virtual

        Leading event for the medical technology industry, bringing together professionals, innovators, and regulators from around the world. It focuses on the latest developments in medical devices, diagnostics, and digital health. The summit features expert-led discussions, workshops, and presentations on key topics like regulatory affairs, market access, and technological innovations. It’s an excellent platform for networking, knowledge sharing, and exploring new business opportunities in the dynamic medtech sector.
      60. Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology Annual Meeting
        July 27 – 30, 2025 • San Francisco, California

        The SIMB Annual Meeting 2025 is a key event for professionals in the field of microbiology, biotechnology, and related disciplines. Organized by the Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology (SIMB), the conference will feature cutting-edge research, innovations, and industry trends in microbial science and biotechnological applications. It offers a platform for networking, sharing scientific advancements, and discussing the latest developments in areas such as industrial microbiology, bioengineering, and bioprocessing. Attendees can expect to engage with thought leaders, researchers, and industry experts, with a focus on translating science into practical, real-world solutions.
      61. LSI Europe ‘25
        September 7-11, 2025 • JW Marriott Grosvenor House London

        Now in its fourth year, LSI Europe has become a staple of the global Medtech and Healthtech community. The 2025 event in London will convene industry-leading startups, venture capital and private equity investors, strategics, and more.
      62. Wearable Injectors and Connected Devices USA
        September 8-9, 2025 • Boston, USA

        As the need for at home self-administration and routes for delivery of time-dependent and high-volume drug delivery grows, on-body injectors and connected devices hold great opportunity. The conference will delve into on-body device design and development, latest advances in connectivity and digital integration of wearable devices, and opportunities for enhancement of user-interface through human factors case studies. The conference will also address challenges in regulations surrounding wearable injectors and connected devices.
      63. Biotech Week Boston 2025
        September 15-18, 2025 • Boston, USA

        Be a part of this unique experience spanning the drug development value chain, giving you access to the most innovative scientific minds and business leaders in Boston and around the world.
      64. Medical Technology Ireland Expo and Conference
        September 24-25, 2025 • Galway, Ireland

        It will bring together global leaders, innovators, and experts to showcase the latest medical technologies, discuss cutting-edge trends, and address key industry challenges. Featuring a dynamic trade exhibition and high-level conference sessions, the event will cover topics like MedTech innovation, regulatory affairs, manufacturing best practices, and digital health. Attendees will have opportunities to network, explore new partnerships, and stay ahead of industry developments. The event is a must-attend for professionals in the medical device, diagnostics, and healthcare technology sectors.
      65. AvaMed: The MedTech Conference
        October 5-8, 2025 • San Diego, California

        The MedTech Conference in San Diego, California October 5-8, 2025, will help you look ahead and create new possibilities. Featuring world-class speakers, a cross-cutting educational program, invaluable networking and next-level technology, this forum for transformational ideas is a can’t-miss event for the industry’s prominent and most promising companies.
      66. 12th Annual American Medical Device Summit
        October 7-8, 2025 • Chicago, IL

        This summit brings together top executives, regulatory experts, and thought leaders to discuss critical topics such as product development, regulatory compliance, clinical trials, and market access. Attendees will gain valuable insights through expert-led presentations, panel discussions, and networking opportunities, aimed at navigating the complex landscape of the medical device sector and driving business growth. It’s a key event for anyone involved in the development, manufacturing, and commercialization of medical devices.
      67. RAPS Convergence
        October 7-9, 2025 • Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

        RAPS Convergence is the largest and most recognized annual gathering of global regulatory affairs professionals. Convergence brings together representatives of industry, regulatory bodies, research, academia, and clinical organizations that are directly involved in managing the regulatory process and aligning science, regulation, and business strategy.
      68. Pharma Partnering US Summit 2025
        October 15-16, 2025 • Boston, MA, USA

        The Pharma Partnering US Summit 2025 is a key event that brings together leaders from the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and life sciences industries for strategic networking and collaboration. The summit focuses on partnerships, licensing deals, and innovation in drug development. Attendees, including executives, investors, and researchers, will explore opportunities to accelerate the growth of new therapies, share insights on market trends, and discuss emerging challenges in the industry. It serves as a platform for forging partnerships and advancing business strategies in the evolving pharma landscape.
      69. HLTH USA 2025
        October 19-22, 2025 • Las Vegas, USA

        HLTH 2025 is a major healthcare innovation conference that brings together leaders and innovators across the healthcare ecosystem. It focuses on the intersection of technology, digital health, and patient-centered care, offering insights into emerging trends, disruptive technologies, and new business models that are shaping the future of healthcare. The event serves as a platform for networking, collaboration, and showcasing cutting-edge solutions to drive healthcare transformation.
      70. MD&M Minneapolis
        October 22-25, 2025 • Minneapolis, MN

        MD&M Minneapolis is a leading trade show and conference focused on the medical device and manufacturing industry. The event brings together professionals from across the medical technology sector, offering insights into the latest innovations, manufacturing processes, and regulatory trends shaping the industry. Attendees have the opportunity to explore cutting-edge technologies, network with industry experts, and discover solutions to streamline design, development, and production of medical devices. The event serves as a key platform for collaboration, learning, and advancing the future of medical device manufacturing.
      71. Biosensors for Medical Wearables
        October 23-24, 2025 • Boston, MA, USA

        The wearable biosensors market has grown significantly in recent years leading to increasingly growing potential for medical applications and at home alternatives for patients. With growing applications and potential in remote patient monitoring, diagnosis, therapeutics and detection of disease, wearable sensors are attracting considerable interest due to their opportunities in better supporting patients, clinical outcomes and decisions. Furthermore, AI and connected technologies are furthering the potential opportunities of this industry. However, challenges including flexibility of wearable devices, the collection of clinical-grade data and advanced battery technologies still remain for the industry to overcome. This year’s conference looks to address these hot topics through case studies and industry insights.
      72. AAHKS 2025 Annual Meeting
        October 23-26, 2025 • Dallas, Texas USA

        The Annual Meeting of the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons addresses a broad array of scientific topics such as implant design, outcomes, surgical techniques and complications of primary and revision total joint arthroplasty (TJA) for hip and knee surgeons. The meeting addresses the latest socioeconomic issues in health care. Special courses are also offered for residents, non-physician team members and surgeon administrators.
      73. Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics 2025
        October 25-28, 2025 • San Francisco, CA

        The premier event for interventional cardiologists, healthcare professionals, and researchers involved in cardiovascular medicine. This conference is dedicated to advancing the field of interventional cardiology, with a focus on the latest research, innovative technologies, and evidence-based practices that improve patient outcomes. Attendees can engage in high-level educational sessions, live case demonstrations, and hands-on training led by global experts.
      74. The Seismic Shift in Healthcare: AI & Innovation
        October 28-29, 2025 • Irvine, CA

        Witness the seismic shift in healthcare driven by artificial intelligence and groundbreaking innovations. Gain insights on how innovation is accelerating the future of medicine, improving patient outcomes, and tackling healthcare’s biggest challenges. Be part of this transformative event and discover how AI and other technologies are setting new standards in medical excellence.
      75. RESCON USA
        summit 2025

        November 5-6, 2025 • San Francisco, California, USA

        Welcome to RESCON Summit, the premier event dedicated to Inhalation & Respiratory Drug Delivery. Join us for two days of in-depth discussions and networking opportunities with leaders in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Explore the latest advancements in inhalation drug delivery, from formulations to devices, and gain insights into the future of respiratory therapies. At RESCON Summit, the spotlight is on business-to-business interactions, fostering collaborations that will drive innovation in patient care. Don’t miss this exclusive opportunity to connect with industry experts and shape the future of respiratory health.
      76. NASS 40th Annual Meeting
        November 14-16, 2025 • Denver, CO

        This year NASS celebrates the 40th Anniversary of the premier meeting in spine. At NASS 2025 you’ll experience the latest education, research and innovations in spine through podium presentations, symposia, and ePosters featuring research, issues, and trends in spine, plus the world’s largest spine technical exhibition. Enjoy special networking events and opportunities to collaborate with colleagues.
      77. MEDICA
        November 17-20, 2025 • Düsseldorf, Germany

        With over 5,000 exhibitors from 72 countries and 80,000 visitors MEDICA in Düsseldorf is one of the largest medical B2B trade fairs in the world. A wide range of innovative products and services from the fields of medical imaging, laboratory technology, diagnostics, health IT, mobile health as well as physiotherapy/orthopaedic technology and medical consumables are presented here. The extensive programme of first-class forums, conferences and special shows provides opportunities for interesting presentations and discussions with experts and politicians and also includes pitches of new products and award ceremonies.
      78. MEDevice Silicon Valley
        November 19-20, 2025 • Silicon Valley, CA

        MEDevice is the launching pad for tomorrow’s groundbreaking medical devices. Join us in Silicon Valley for your chance to push past your hurdles in product development, get the latest regulatory updates to stay in compliance, and build the OEM industry partnerships that get your devices designed, built, and out to market faster.



    

Innovations, Insights from a Seasoned Venture Capitalist

20 min reading time

Innovations, Insights from a Seasoned Venture Capitalist

Presented by Maurizio Vecchione
at the 10x Medical Device Conference – San Diego, 2022

Reading Time: 20 minutes

Maurizio Vecchione: It’s actually part of the Gates Foundation, and it uses a standard methodology to create stochastic statistical models that would predict the impact of a device that does not yet exist or an intervention that does not yet exist on a particular country against either seasonal or other factors relating to the disease.

This happens to be Madagascar. It’s simulating the presence of malaria and the impact on malaria on a new intervention relating to a next generation of mosquito bed net, and it’s a very simplistic, it’s a very simple problem, but this allows somebody designing an intervention or designing a product or designing to essentially simulate, using these kind of impact metrics, what is the likely impact that they’ll have? And at the Gates Foundation, these type of techniques are used to actually decide what to invest in, and so I’m telling you that because this is becoming now mainstream.

These kinds of approaches are becoming mainstream, not only in public policy but in in investment circles. So I run a venture capital fund as an example, and we’re using the same exact techniques to pick the problems we’re gonna be backing.

10x returns to San Diego, with Maurizio as keynote! Join us April 11, 2023.

Note: The following was autotranscribed by otter.ai and got probably 80+ percent correct without edits. Interpret accordingly.

As I sort of come to perhaps a 30-year point in my career, in medical devices, both on the research side, and on the development side. And increasingly on the investment side, and the policy side, I thought it would be good to share with you kind of a mega picture of some reflections on what I think is just around the corner from us, predicated by a series of innovations that are really very likely to change completely in the face of medical devices that may be not in today. Now, medical devices is a very broad term. So not everything that I’m going to be talking to you today is relevant for everyone in the audience, I’m sure, an enormous data. But I thought it will be good for you to sort of think and reflect a little bit about some of the trends that I’m seeing convergence rapidly. And I think maybe ushering in what I would describe as a new golden age of devices. You know, most of you are probably very intimately familiar with the impact of software, and technology, and increasingly machine learning. I hesitate calling it artificial intelligence. Because it really is not intelligence. It’s not artificial. Machine learning. Statistical intelligence, develops correlations, not necessarily causation. But we’re about to see the next evolution of that which will go into cognitive intelligence and reasoning systems, which are likely to really change the way machines and humans interface. So, I thought I’ll title this conversation disruptive medical devices.

And I’m not entirely sure whether this conversation is going to be completely realistic, or completely coherent. So please stop me and ask questions, feel free to disagree. I thought about throw up a series of trends that I’m increasingly seeing as dominating the discourse in terms of the evolution of healthcare and healthcare delivery, as well as some of the frontiers that are encompassed in this in the medical device space. There’s a lot of talk about precision medicine, people define it differently. I’m not sure there’ll be totally believe the role of precision medicine in the future of healthcare outcomes. But especially in areas like cancer, increasingly, positive outcomes coming only when you apply precision medicine, of course, the basic tenet of precision medicine is you’re going to use genetic profiling to essentially customize treatments and other procedures. And that inherently means there are devices involved, and athletes involved in performing their precision medicine calculation, but this is going to become much more than that. And, and devices will take a role in precision medicine is not only to profile and been patients, but it’s going to become the way drugs are actually developed. And I’m going to come back to that the subject of treating sickness versus treating wellness. Preventing disease before it becomes disease is also an increasing factor. If any of you track my old boss Bill Gates, you may have watched his TED Talk and 2015. And in 2015, Bill predicted down to the economic impact, that type of virus predicted COVID pandemic. And he was off by maybe a year in terms of when it all happened now, how did it predict it? He predicted it, because when you look at these issues of prevention, you can pretty much see what is going to happen to the etymology of disease. And you can make some very important public health conclusions from it.

The other sort of mega trend that I want to call your attention is this move to clinical care. Increasingly, your doctor is this, and the relationship of patients to healthcare is completely changed. I was at the breakfast table, I was sharing a piece of data, I happened to be on a panel that is advising the British Prime Minister on the future of the National Health Service in the UK. And as part of that, there was a recent study that was conducted that basically showed that the push towards specialized care is increasingly counterproductive on the outcomes of the patients. And a particular aspect of this study showed us 77 0% of all patients in British hospitals will be actually better off being at home and be treated in primary care. So, you know, in different pieces, statistics, I live in Los Angeles, and the west side of Los Angeles, which is a relatively affluent, maybe 3 billion people section on the city has more MRI machines than the entire combined Western European total of MRI machines. Does that mean that the average West Los Angelenos is healthier than the average Western European? No, it just means we have a much more expensive healthcare system. This idea of immediately moving patients out of primary care, out of wellness care, out of preventive care into acute and specialist care is really becoming an issue both from a cost and personal perspective, and from a outcome’s perspective. And then the big one, you know, the word diagnostic, has been around for a long time. But really, we haven’t had the devices that are therapeutic. With some exceptions, you could argue with cardiovascular care, and a few other things, devices are performing therapeutic function. But the idea that the device could replace a drug, for some kind of therapeutic aspect is pretty new. And I will show you in a minute the trends in the science and technology that are ushering this new era of devices becoming therapeutic. These are some of the topics I want to talk about. I skipped a few, but you see them there. For me to into that, I like to come back to why are we in the medical devices business. And, and this is something that takes me back to a 10 plus years of investing Bill Gates as money for impact in general healthcare, delivery devices, spaces, you know, increasingly, and we’re just living through a crisis in population had through the COVID pandemic. Increasingly, the impact of the medical technologies that we’re all involved with has the potential to transform the world.

As a matter of fact, there are some technologies that are incubating today that could completely radically transform the way we think about disease on such a scale, that it would be planetary scale. We’re also increasingly seeing a convergence between the health of the planet and the health of the people on the planet. And if you happen to have attended the last climate conference, the conference in Glasgow, you may have been surprised to see a major crisis by the World Health Organization and a 500-page report that is actually looking at the impact on healthcare from climate change. And of course, a lot of people will say, okay, you know, because the climate is getting warmer, and we’re going to have mosquitoes in places that we didn’t have mosquitoes. So maybe we’ll have malaria in places that didn’t have malaria. By the way, there’s malaria in Florida. At the moment. You might have heat strokes in places that don’t have heat strokes and so on. But it’s actually much more dynamic than that. If you think about it, the planet is a Petri dish. And we’ve found out the heat and so there is accelerated genomic and evolutionary pressures on pathogens and disease. And if you think that it’s an accident that we have a pandemic now, or if you think that it’s an accident that over the last 15 years, we had 22 pandemic potential bugs emerge when we didn’t have any for the prior 100 plus years. Well, let me tell you, it’s not an accident. So, this idea of One Health, the idea of zoonosis, and diseases that escaping from animals to humans, of course, I’m talking about effective diseases. But this has effects on a bit of theology across the disease space. I wanted you to think a little bit about the impacts of what we’re doing. And for a different reason, in addition to sort of being humanitarians and high mining, during the 10 years of investing almost $30 billion in medical devices for Bill, I discovered the correlation. And the correlation is from a business perspective, the biggest was the impact of our products and devices, the biggest source of performance, financial performance, and the outcome of the company so we build. Some of our biggest unicorns that come out of that effort were companies that achieve the highest human potential human impact. And so, I would argue to you as you think about these megatrends, as you think about the next thing, as you think about the evolution of your products, think about their impact, because high impact might just be a great business strategy to ultimately achieve global scale. And if you don’t think about the impact, then you have to think about impact in the quantitative way. You know, I probably have 50 business plans on my desk for new devices, new products, and every one of them started by saying, we are solving X problem, and it’s the most important problem to solve in medical history. Well, I’m not trying to say your disease is more important than that disease.

But you need a methodology to try to really assess the true impact of some of these products. And so my thesis around the strategy for high impact innovation centers on the concept of modality. And if you’re not in public health, you might not know what that means. But this was a metric of impact that was actually developed by Gates. It was subsequently adopted by the World Health Organization, and it’s in use to measure the impact of disease pretty much across the world, in Delhi stands for disability adjusted life years. And, you know, when you think about a disease, and when you think about a human, we have a sudden life expectancy, in that life expectancy is affected by the times when we are sick. And you could essentially calculate the number of years that we lose from sickness. And that’s the measure of the value. And I can tell you a recipe for how to ensure that your product is disruptive, and scale embedded, scalable, and that is to maximize the number of calories that you save, at the lowest possible cost per gallon. When you achieve that you almost by definition, have products that will transform the world. And so, the reason why I’m telling you all that is because you can incorporate these types of metrics into creating pictures like this, this is the entire global burden of disease. For the entire world. The size of each box represents the area, which box represents the impact that the disease has expressed in down, upon the left blue box is IHD, that’s ischemia and heart disease. And not surprisingly, you can see that, that’s one of your largest areas of impact. If you could eliminate it, maybe combining it with stroke. If you could eliminate it, you’d be close to eliminating the border of our normal bone disease expressed the tally. Some of the highest impact companies that I’ve seen execute successfully map the products into these title pictures and make decisions of where to put investments and where to put market strategies based on these actual and projected impact areas. Now of course, it’s easy to say eliminate ischemia heart disease is a high impact thing. But then the real question is, what do you need to do to make a difference in that particular box. Yes, what is the question?

Rob Packard: I have a little trouble reading the graph, but I think it says this is to 2017. Is that correct?

Maurizio Vecchione: Yes, my plot is a little bit dated.

Rob Packard: The diabetes portion is has exploded recently. So, we really need to look at this real time as well. Right?

Maurizio Vecchione: You’re correct. And it’s for that reason that I created in about eight years ago, I created a Public Benefit Research Institute called the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation. It’s run by Dr. Personal Rafe previously from Harvard. Now at the University of Washington, if you go to ihme.org, or you will do a search around the global burden of disease, you’ll actually see an open database, yes, the world’s largest repository of tally data. And you can see an open database that you can actually use to make these kinds of assessments and not only you will use it, but every government uses it. And every multilateral uses it. Anytime you see a piece of data that says the coordinates of the prevalence of certain diseases X or Y, it comes from the ihme dataset. And they are constantly updated and it is real time. And in parallel, you can see off to the right there, those sort of intensity of the colors, they represent the speed at which a particular condition is increasing or decreasing, you’re right. It’s a very dynamic process, but the data is all open.

Joe Hage: I’ll just say, I’m just going to say that. I know you’re all fascinated with him. And I know he has more slides than we had a lot of time for. Go over. And I encourage you to ask him questions, because yes, he is fascinating.

Pablo Prado: I am Pablo Prado from Livivos. I was just asking, what’s the color code in your…

Maurizio Vecchione: Yeah, the column called the Blue is non-communicable disease, the red is the effective disease. And the green is other condition like car accidents. And again, the intensity is the growth rate. The darker ones are growing, the lighter ones are shrinking. Okay, and but again, this is just a snapshot, okay, you will get very different pictures, if you ask the question about this burden of disease for the United States, or for the Western United States, or for, you know, Africa. And you will see massive shifts, which eternal think about what that means, it means that different parts of the world, different populations are dealing with a different burden of disease that we are at, if you’re going to be designing devices, or designing for a new pack, you have to keep all that in mind. Okay, now, I’m going to give you a glimpse of how far you can take this. This is out of another institute that we created a Gates, it’s actually part of the Gates Foundation. And it uses the stallion methodology to create stochastic statistical models that will predict the impact of a device that does not yet exist. Or an intervention that does not yet exist on a particular country against either seasonal, or other factors relating to the disease, this happens to be Madagascar, it’s simulating the presence of malaria and the impact on malaria or a new intervention relating to the next generation, mosquito bed net. And it’s a very simplistic, it’s very simple problem. But this allows somebody designing an intervention or designing a product or design to essentially simulate using these kinds of impact metrics, what is the likely impact that they’ll have? And at the Gates Foundation, these types of techniques are used to actually decide what to invest in. And so I’m telling you that because this is becoming now mainstream, these kinds of approaches are becoming mainstream, not only in public policy, but in investment circles. So, I run a venture capital fund is an example and we’re using the same exact techniques to pick the province we’re going to be backing. And again, with a desire to maximize the impact. Okay…

Joe Hage: I’m just close enough. If you go back to, I was, one more place. I was intrigued because I was watching the day count. Yeah. And it went red where it was most intense to bluer and I was assuming that was the positive impact of your intervention, but then we’re ready again for blue again.

Maurizio Vecchione: Yeah, you’re actually see because it happens to be talking about malaria, there is a seasonal factor due to the fact that malaria is spread by mosquitoes and as the wet season, Madagascar, there is a climate and weather component to the measurement of this impact. And that’s why you need very sophisticated simulation. It’s not just the presence of the intervention, but it’s what’s happening to the disease all in the dynamic fashion.

David Giles: Got a question, Dave Giles from Battelle. Going back to the terminal boxes, a lot of those are lifestyle related. So, does this mean that we are misallocating resources as a society by focusing on medical devices as or pharmaceuticals as a therapy, versus treating the lifestyle?

Maurizio Vecchione: Perhaps, that’s why I want you to see this, because when you start looking at these kinds of pictures, then you can ask some fundamental question whether you are on the product development side, and you need to think about the impact of the usability or the positioning of your product. You know, and it goes back to the comment I said, at the beginning, when people start talking about prevention, you know, you might have a much higher impact on the world preventing some of this disease with lifestyle. By the way, that doesn’t mean devices are not important. One of the most successful areas of implementation of devices is behavioral therapies that are actually looking at those kinds of implementation. The reason why I want you to think in terms of impact, first, I want you I’m advocating is because I think it will get you to develop the strategies that are the most impactful and most effective at the end. And I think, by the way, that concept affects any area that you’re involved, whether it’s regulatory, whether it’s product development, whether it’s research, or whether its business.

Rob Packard: My name is Rob Packard, I think that’s exactly the right question to ask are we misallocating resources? Put it in the context of FDA submissions, which is what I specialize in. When we have clients with an innovative technology, they automatically think, Oh, this is a breakthrough device designation. In the requirements for a breakthrough device designation, they ask for is what life-threatening disease are you treating with this device? And where’s your clinical data for this? But one way to twist his show, it really has more impact on society would be? What is your daily impact?

Maurizio Vecchione: Absolutely. And again, when you start thinking about at the level of quantitation of valleys is you know, you have to sort of realize that I’ll give you an example. During cancer, of course, it has a big dally impact. Okay, but is anyone most likely to achieve that? By itself? Probably not, it needs to live inside a continuum that will in aggregate, contribute only maybe one specific type of cancer or one stage of the cancer, etc. The devil is in the detail. And when you actually start translating the value of innovation that I saw, you need to really ask the question, what are the gaps that science and technology hadn’t filled? That causes this to be such a big box? Okay, and maybe that the answer is behavioral, or lifestyle, okay, or a combination of factors. And then by the time you get to the FDA, and by the way, I’m a consultant with a number of the FDA groups right now on this very topic, because they need to be equipped to be able to assess the impact and it gets very specific. That’s why we went through the trouble of Gates to actually build sophisticated models that could give us a prediction on the specific intervention, the specific product in a specific geography in the context of whatever disease, you’re tracking. Now, this is over the top sophisticated and against we had 200 people developing state of the art, you know, statistical and predictive models to do this kind of things. But you can do a quick and dirty version of this, that I actually have in all of the companies that I’ve invested in, we tried to drive a methodology inside the management team thinking. As we now sort of take these impacts, and we started thinking about where and what can we do with devices to try to drive these impacts, you know, I like to think in terms of cost, and ease of use as sort of a parameter space.

And what has happened with the introduction of technology, as well as all of the revolutions around omics and other sort of biological sciences, life sciences, really the emergence of system biology, is you’ll be able to take things that were historically high cost and historically difficult to use require physicians or physician radiation to utilize and they’re slowly moving to the point of care, which means that moving up the axis of ease of use and now abandoned dramatically come down in costs. And so, the yellow box there, which really is the thing you need to move care outside of the hospital setting or the high-end setting, and move it into the customer, the customers hand, the home. And the decentralized setting is one of the key frontiers we’re seeing in devices. And I’m going to just leave you with a couple of examples that I consider case studies on how that evolution is occurring. This is a premium product not yet on the market, but it is already in front of the FDA. It happens to be a company that I incubated in my current research effort. And it’s intended to address a number of those big boxes that you saw before. Specifically, it’s focusing on ischemia, heart disease, and stroke. And what you’re seeing is a wearable device that is, probably if the clinical data supports, it will shape up to be the best stroke detector. And it’s entirely available as a point of care devices automated. This is a device that can look inside your head, and actually determine the very precisely the blood flow patterns. And can tell you if you have a stroke, where you have a stroke in approximately 60 seconds. And it’s intended to dramatically affect the way stroke care is provided. Because today, when an ambulance comes, if they suspect that you have a stroke, it’s based on visual interpretation of certain symptoms and a scale.

And chances are, the ambulance is going to take you to the nearest hospital, and the nearest hospital may not be equipped to do procedures that could come back to me, which is the thing that is going to save your life if you have a large vessel occlusion stroke. And if you get to that thrombectomy, after about two hours on the answers to stroke, your outcomes are very, very poor. Which is why stroke is such a big box in that valley better than ever before. On the other hand, if he gets you to a hospital that can do that dramatically within that two-hour magic window, when you are going to be almost completely recovered. And so, this is a device that ultimately will be in every ambulance. It has a cost because it’s slipstream behind consumer electronics, product lines, that is sub $500. And it’s an automatic way of deciding what kind of stroke you have, and where do you need to be taken. This is an example but here’s where some of the magics that’s happening. Well, we can see inside your brain with a device like this, and it’s using a new technology called harmonic excitation.

But it turns out, we can also not only see the neurons, but we can poke the neurons. And so, this is a device that utilized in a slightly different way becomes therapeutic. And some of the indications that are currently in front of the FDA are neuropsychiatric disease, therapeutic for Alzheimer, and therapeutic for breakers. And it’s because a device that can essentially reach inside your brain and touch those neurons and create harmonic excitations has the ability to do cell lysis on cancer and has the ability to do neuro stimulation on neuropsychiatric disease. And it’s all a wearable piece of product. Now, there are techniques to do these kinds of things. Today, they involve roomful of equipment, and hundreds of 1000s of dollars per see. And patients having to do extenders six times a week, visiting hospitals, that can now all come to a sub-treatment, automatic treatment at home. This is an example of what I mean when you start thinking in terms of the problem areas. And you start thinking about the convergence of these technologies, what can be achieved in some of the technologies that are making these kind of things possible, listed right on here, the idea that you can incorporate the advances in omics with advances in tissue engineering and cell biology with personalized constructs, including the ability to create personalized disease models, and so called organs on a chip, all combined into personalized biomaterials in turn enable the construction of these devices that are the sort of highly convergent capabilities. And to give you a separate case study, I’ll tell you a little bit about the work that Terasaki institute is doing on organs on a chip.

Joe Hage: I’d like to ask about that. Who is that? Is that a company you’ve founded?

Maurizio Vecchione: No, the Terasaki Institute is a non-profit, loosely affiliated with UCLA. It runs a research center that we’re pioneers on Dr. Porter Sack a pioneer in transplantation. And they are now developing a lot of personal medicine, technology as a research institution.

Joe Hage: How did you become involved with that? How did that transition from what you were doing to this? So how did you become involved with it?

Maurizio Vecchione: Absolutely, Seattle, my real home. I was in LA and the Terasaki Institute is a fantastic place that is doing really leading-edge research. It’s a good place for me to bring some of my academic research and I focus on helping them develop a research program that is ultimately highly translatable and can spawn company. NICU Terasaki is a research center at some incubator, and accelerator.

Joe Hage: I’ll say that the end to celebrate, I made the executive decision on cutting it in coffee break, so we can hear and speak some more, right.

Maurizio Vecchione: And I’m almost done, you may have heard of assays that mimic organs and an ordinary behavior. But increasingly, you can create assets that mimic human disease, such as cancer and you can integrate those into other in vitro models that can mimic metabolic functions and other functions in the competence of optimizing drug treatments or discovering drugs. And because this is a human, the translation from model to reality is dramatically better. And this is what I’m showing you here is the future of drug discovery, in the translation for most animal models to humans, is less than 7% for drugs, which is why it costs so much to development, new drug and many fail, in later stage, you can kind of skip all that, and go directly into these sorts of personalized models.

And, you know, you can put these things inside microfluidic circuits that can mimic function, but more importantly, produce data in real time. Think of this as a organoids bio reactor that are creating living human organs and are integrating them with living human disease. And you can study those interactions in real time using these kinds of systems. And to give you a sense of where the tissue engineering has gone, this is artificial heart tissue, you can see it naturally starts pulsing and you can look at cardio toxicity. And finally, individual assays using this kind of technology. And, and we can do this from liver, and look at metabolic functions. More importantly, they do this for the immune system, and studying things like cancer immunology directly onto this onshore construct. As you can imagine, when you combine this with big data, when you combine this with genomics and personalized medicine, we are now at the point that places I can be honest, if you’re a cancer patient, you’ll be able to go inside MD Anderson, they will take a biopsy of your cancer, that will create living organoids, that they’ll put aside machines that can generate essentially hundreds of 1000s of replica. And they will test every chemotherapy drugs across for your specialized treatment. And they will do that in a matter of days.

And the outcome changes when you do that is the difference between a one size fits all treatment to a highly responsive, specific treatment. And that’s what we’ve looking at this for the future, new drugs, discovery. These are devices that are becoming tools for drug discovery, as well as they’re becoming therapeutics by themselves. And this is just part of a recently published study, where we actually predicted using this vitro construct, we predicted some of the most spectacular cardiovascular drug failures. And it couldn’t be done in vitro at the very beginning. Because we could see in the living organoids the cardiac toxicity that they weren’t so awesome here, what I hoped of these years.

Joe Hage: In more than two years. I’m wondering, you inspired, and people want to get that guy’s contact information. I know. How do you choose which of that many projects to work on first? How do you make a choice when your time is limited?

Maurizio Vecchione: I use that impact metric. So yes, some permutation of that concept, basically all you could spend your life chasing any one problem. And I’m telling you if you chase the high impact problem and if you look, find the problem in front. That’s the other issue, especially research, I see all the time researchers that have made a breakthrough. And then they ask the question, we’re going to do this. And some of our most successful programs can when we submit the problem, and we define the problem, and we take scientists from an interdisciplinary area and put them in a room saying, here’s the problem we can solve. Okay, if you solve that, we have a business, we have a funding, we have other things to really allow for this. And that idea of doing problem first development, you’ll be surprised how few people actually do.

Jan Gates: A quick question, sounds a little bit strange, I’m Jan Gates from PackWise Consulting. But 23 years ago, there were doctors trying to do what you were talking about with the cell technology in individualized chemotherapy and everything. And they were banned from medical practice. How did you get pass that with the FDA and the doctors and stuff.

Maurizio Vecchione: It’s the predictive value, you know, you can do subculture and look at drug susceptibility of the individual cells. And that is predictive to the limited extent, drug companies do that all day long. Physicians may not be necessarily doing that, but within drug discovery industry, that’s one of the key techniques. I think the understanding of biology, Cell Biology system biology, when you’re looking at something like that cardiac tissue is showing you another discipline that is also highly disrupted called tissues engineering, because the functioning of the cardiac tissues, not just subsets. When you go back to the example of the neuro stimulation technology, the functioning of a technology is not just based on sub-neurons, it’s based on the entire coexistence of those multiple cell types in a living tissue. And that’s why the technology has evolved to really replicate the complex living organoids that exercise and physiology that is associated with those. It’s only at that point that you also gaining predictive value. And in fact, that these technologies are now becoming common place will allow us to simulate it like there are machines that literally have this in the box.

Joe Hage: Please, thank my fascinating friend Maurizio Vecchione.

email me