ABHI Medical Technology Forum

Tuesday 5th November 2002

Back in November 2002, JoAnne Bichard, Goldsmiths College, London attended the ABHI Medical Technology Forum on behalf of the IHT Programme.
Below are some of her notes and thoughts on the day. If you have any comments to add, then please contact the IHT office.

Objectives & Activities of ABHI - Oliver Wells Chmn Med Tech Policy Group.

ABHI (Association of British Health-care Industries) is a trade association that promotes regulation, commercial interests, and research in health care industries. They follow a public/private (PP) agenda and have a number of policy groups looking at various sectors of the industry. These include an ESRC integrated healthcare technologies programme, a drive to connect institutional research with industry, attempts to overcome the barriers to commercial development and to provide a positive environment for the development of medical technologies.

ABHI has established the NHS as a partner in piloting, evaluating and championing effective healthcare technologies, for it is considered that this area is a high growth, high quality industry. However the development of these businesses needs assessment and there is a need to understand business procedures, especially in the development of important overseas markets.

ABHI has identified 'best practice' with UK/EU health technology programmes, however views some regulation as a straightjacket for innovation creating difficulties for collaboration and agreements.

Concluded that medical technologies industries needed to 'put it's own house in order'

Medical Devices Faraday (MDF) - Sue Dunkerton

MDF is a partnership that aims to improve UK competitiveness in the medical technologies industry. It provides information in partnership ethics, strategic research, and business training as well as acting as a meeting point in a 'people exchange'.

Training is clearly defined by 'industrial and clinical needs' whilst 'key player interface' encourages communication and collaboration between the UK and EU. It is hoped these contacts will provide engagement between small and large business operations as well as offering involvement from/for industry and clinicians.

In providing a National infrastructure MDF hopes to develop communication and awareness of developments in medical devices and bio materials. This it is hoped, will lead to new patient treatments. An example of this development would be collaboration between industry and clinicians developing 'new improved pre-clinical testing technologies' offering 'novel drug delivery with the minimum of invasiveness' allowing the patient to 'get the drug when they need it'

However, problems have occurred in developing communication links with the biggest UK purchaser of medical technologies, the Department of Health and the Department of Trade and Industry. Hence the market is still missing help from the DoH. It is recognized that the broad and diverse technologies involved may have a role to play in the communication 'problem'.

CoMap2 UK industry, research & innovation - Dr Brian Lever Scion Logic

Market figures show that per GDP health spending, being well is a top priority.
US/CAN 50%
Lat AM 4%
JAP 12%
W. EUR 23%
AFRICA 1%

80% of healthcare industries are in the top 15% of companies with the UK dominated by the US. 85% of the UK industry base consists of small companies with less then £5 million turnover, it is estimated there are approx. 2000 of companies of this size involved in the med tech industry.

From a customer percentage, the UK has a low level of health care spending.
UK 6%
EUR 10%
US 14%

Suggested that this is due to the NHS having the monopoly as the UK's health care provider, consequently the private sector is 'poorly developed' when considering market size.
UK 3%
US 48%

Other factors involved in UK market problems concern the customers preference in buying on price opposed to the cost effectiveness of an item over it's lifetime.
Whilst 'Best Practice' comes in a variety of options and the changing policies and shape of the NHS appear to be detrimental to small businesses. Consequently the business environment revolves around regulation and political climates and this lack of co-ordination and co-operation is causing up to £10 billion in losses.

Technology & Innovation; the DoH Agenda - Dr Tony Bates DoH

It is estimated that innovation and invention in the NHS has generated up to £500 million. However the NHS does have a history of missed opportunities in R&D. New legislation has been brought in to attempt to counteract this history. Section 5 of the Health and Social Care act allows NHS trusts and PCT's to take shareholding options in spin-out companies, with share options for civil servants.

Filling the Funding Gap; Role of Partnerships UK- David Harrison & Alan Driver (PUK)

Partnerships UK is a public/private partnership that only works in the public sector. PUK promotes technologies that are 'cutting edge' and 'leading edge'. They site NMR (Nuclear Magnetic resonance) as an example of the UK's failure to develop new health technologies, the UK being one of the leaders in imaging sciences yet not producing any of the imaging technologies.

It is felt that the NHS fosters a culture of fear towards health care innovations, and that new technologies within the NHS would lead to new methods. Resistance to this is a form of protecting jobs within the institution.

Yet market leadership needs to be pro medical technologies, the NHS is being funded 'like never before' yet there remains a 'cultural barrier' between health care professionals and med tech innovators. Thus, for the AHIB and it's affiliates the challenge is to promote the business of innovative medical technologies as one of mutual benefit to the public and private sectors. 'That personal health equates to National economic health'.

Conclusion

This forum brought together a number of people from various business areas (chemical and bio entrepreneurs, economists ). The main lament appeared to be the monopoly the NHS has on the UK health care industry and how this has held back innovation and development of technologies that could have played a major role in their specific markets.

The meeting was curious as it employed metaphors of pioneering within the rhetoric of UK nationalism. There was brief mention of partnerships in Europe, but mostly the theme centered around how could the UK play an exclusive and more prominant role in this area.

It was hoped that with the current Governments Public/Private discourse that the NHS could help develop innovative technologies that will play a part in the market place. However the first hurdle will be the resistance from within the NHS towards such 'innovations'.

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