Life Sciences - Q1 - Mar 2019

Q1 / 2019 A SUPPLEMENT BY MEDIAPLANET DISTRIBUTED WITHIN THE IRISH INDEPENDENT

HEALTH INNOVATION HUB IRELAND Ireland is ideally placed to be a world leader in the provision of total connected health solutions. » ONLINE

MATT MORAN Biopharma requires qualification, aptitude and experience. » p4

CONOR HANLEY Ireland is home to nine of the world’s top ten medtech companies. » p4

HEALTHNEWS.IE

CREDIT: DR ANTHONY MAHER

Former SFI Research Image of the year Most of the medicines people consume are made up of compacted powders - the individual particles are in fact tiny crystals of the active compound, known as polymorphs. ‘Starship Enterprise’, is an Optical Micrograph image that shows a Form II piracetam crystal (rough, dissolving) undergoing a polymorphic transformation to a more stable Form III crystal (smooth, defined faces) in methanol at 25°C.

AN INDEPENDENT SUPPLEMENT BY MEDIAPLANET

Ireland must make bio-innovation count by investing in tomorrow’s cures Ireland is a place where innovation thrives and foreign direct investment finds a home.

Thirty years ago, just 5,200 worked in an industry characterised by basic manufacturing.

Now, the originator pharmaceutical companies directly employ 30,000 people, working on complex biologics manufacturing and the discovery of tomorrow’s cures.

W

e are part of a globally networked system of innovation. All the top 10 global pharmaceutical companies operate in Ireland the likes of GSK, Pfizer, AbbVie, Novartis, MSD and many more.

They are part of Ireland’s enterprise ecosystem, with a huge impact in societal, economic and human health terms.

Over the past 10 years, the originator pharmaceutical industry has invested close to €10 billion in manufacturing and research sites around the country.

That represents close to the biggest wave of investment in new biotechnology facilities anywhere in the world. Between 2003 and 2018, the number of biotechnology manufacturing sites jumped from two to twenty.

These numbers are impressive - but they are no cause for complacency.

Ireland must continue to pursue excellence in manufacturing and research, and adapt public policy to the promise of innovation in new medicines.

Follow us

If we do that, our industry will remain a reliable source of highquality, well-paid jobs well into the future.

Investing smartly to meet the needs of our ageing population As Ireland’s population ages and medical conditions grow more complex, healthcare will come under increasing pressure to deliver the same, or better, services. The task will be to invest smartly. How we plan for the adoption of bio-technology innovation into the health services must be coordinated centrally by the State. For that reason, we have called for the appointment of a Chief Innovation Officer at the Department of Health.

Ireland must be quicker at ensuring access to new medicines Through innovation, we can develop therapies that, in the long run, will save the system money by reducing hospital stays. In the

MediaplanetMarketing

Over the past 10 years, the originator pharmaceutical industry has invested close to €10 billion in manufacturing and research sites around the country.

That represents close to the biggest wave of investment in new biotechnology facilities anywhere in the world. short term, these new medicines – if they are made available efficiently to patients – will change people’s lives for the better. But, as things stand, Ireland is an outlier in Western Europe when it comes to the speed of availability of innovative medicines for patients.

Our ‘Manifesto for Better Health’ makes the case for a better environment for reimbursement and innovation. Ireland should be in the top seven countries in the EU-28 for speed of access to new medicines. Instead, it is among the slowest. This is an urgent challenge.

@MediaplanetUK

BERNARD MALLEE Director of Communications and Advocacy, Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association (IPHA)

Vaccines save 2.5 million children a year Scientific advancements mean that we know more about illness than ever before. This knowledge is being translated into new ways of treating common conditions.

Medical progress has led to a dramatic decline in death rates for diseases such as cancer, HIV, polio and measles. Hepatitis C has virtually been cured by innovative medicines.

Today, if diagnosed early, leukaemia can be driven into remission with a once-daily treatment. Vaccines have rid the world of smallpox, driven polio to the brink of eradication, and virtually eliminated measles, diphtheria and rubella in many parts of the world. Vaccines save the lives of over 2.5 million children every year. This is the dividend of innovation.

Transforming patient care Promising medicines in development have the potential to transform care, helping patients

live longer and with a better quality of life. In some cases, medicines could prevent further illness, reduce the need for other treatments or even offer a cure.

To capture the value of innovation, we need better outcomes data. The structuring and use of data are among the most promising projects for the future of medical progress. Irish hospitals and healthcare professionals hold a huge volume of historical data. This data, properly mined and applied, could lead to the development of a predictive and preventative approach to medicine.

An exciting global wave of medical innovation is breaking around the world. Ireland should be ready to catch it. With the right policy moves matched to industry pioneers, we can have a leadership role in powering patient care through innovation.

Read more at healthnews.ie

@MediaplanetUK

Project Manager: Chris Greenwell E-mail: chris.greenwell@mediaplanet.com Business Development Manager: Ross Bannatyne Content and Production Manager: Kate Jarvis Managing Director: Alex Williams Digital Manager: Jenny Hyndman Designer: Kiane Blackman Content and Social Editor: Harvey O’Donnell Mediaplanet contact information: Phone: +353 1 691 8842 E-mail: uk.info@mediaplanet.com All images supplied by Gettyimages, unless otherwise specified

Please recycle

AN INDEPENDENT SUPPLEMENT BY MEDIAPLANET

How can we leverage drug development in life sciences in Ireland?

We are living in an age of increasing pharmaceutical innovation, which can solve some of the most complex medical needs of an ageing patient population. Transformative patient care is achieved by advances in treatment that improve patient outcomes or quality of life through developing innovative, novel products that treat previously untreated illnesses (usually due to complexity) or by radically improving existing treatments.

ELAINE DALY Partner and Head, Business Consulting, Grant Thornton

I

reland provides a world-class base for life sciences’ product development. All of the top ten most innovative pharmaceutical companies have operations in Ireland. Seven of these have facilities that are involved in the manufacture of medicinal products that can help treat or even cure complex medical needs in key treatment areas such as oncology, cardiology, rheumatology and diabetes.

Innovative medicines personalise patient care Innovative medicines can have a MEDIAPLANET

transformative effect on a patient’s quality of life. Ireland is host to a multi-million euro study, “The Irish Personalised Approach to the Treatment of Haemophilia (iPATH)”, which is jointly conducted by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland and Shire in partnership with the Irish Haemophilia Society.

The study is developing innovative approaches to improving the treatment of haemophilia by looking at genomic differences in haemophilia patients, which could potentially open the door to the personalisation of therapies.

TIM COTTER Lead for Life Sciences, Business Consulting, Grant Thornton

Novel products for haemophilia, such as extended half-life products, can reduce the annual amount of infusions needed by 59%. This can drastically increase the quality of life of the patient.

AI can improve efficiency in getting drugs to market Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning present opportunities to improve both healthcare delivery and patient outcomes. According to the Financial Times in 2018, 15 life sciences companies added AI to their drug discovery processes.

AI has the potential to reduce the inefficiency of drug development, which can cost billions of euros and take many years to get a product to market. Any technique that can reduce costs and speed up development timelines will have a profound effect on patient care, as it will allow innovative therapies to reach the patient at a faster rate.

Additionally, there are significant opportunities for companies to leverage AI and machine learning techniques to analyse anonymised patient data to spot signs of disease that will enable the possibility of more targeted and personalised

medicine. There is an excellent opportunity to leverage the large concentration of life science and technology companies with operations in Ireland to capitalise on the new technological approaches to drug development and patient care.

Sponsored by

Read more at grantthornton.ie HEALTHNEWS.IE

3

AN INDEPENDENT SUPPLEMENT BY MEDIAPLANET CREDIT: ROSSHELEN

Image: Irish Medtech Association Vice Chair and S3 Connected Health CEO John O’Brien; Irish Medtech Association Director Sinead Keogh and; Irish Medtech Association Chair and FIRE1 CEO Conor Hanley

Ireland targets connected health market worth €15.5bn by 2024

This year, the Irish Medtech Association is putting a spotlight on our innovative start-up community, which continues to attract international attention, and strategic growth markets like connected health, which is expected to be worth an estimated €15.5 billion in sales by 2024.

I

reland is home to nine of the world’s top 10 medtech companies and a strategic base for the European market, worth €110 billion. The group now wants to make Ireland an international leader in innovative, patient-centred medtech products and and is a strategic to tackle changing health needs.

Healthcare spending in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) grew an estimated 2.5% in 2017. That year saw an increased demand for services with ageing populations and the rise of chronic diseases. Hospitals account for 40% of health spending. Connected health is a way to support better care pathways and empowered patients as well as tackle rising costs.

Leading a healthcare revolution As we look to the future, we need to help small companies make it big, with medtech start-ups fuelling innovation and the burgeoning connected health scene in Ireland ready to start a healthcare revolution. Ireland is uniquely placed to become a global leader in this exciting space. Not only are we home to top medtech companies, 10 of the world’s top 10 biopharma and ICT companies also have a base here.

Helping small companies make it big My top priority for this year is to drive policies and conditions to ensure entrepreneurship can thrive with as many as four out of five medtech businesses here being either start-ups or SMEs, with these businesses acting as the lifeblood of medtech innovation.

Globally, the top 30 medtech companies dominate the medtech market, accounting for 64% of the market with €226 billion in sales. To make Ireland one of the top 10 start-up communities in the world, we’re urging the government to focus on three key areas: create a supportive tax environment, promote better funding avenues, and help develop research talent.

Priorities for growth Ireland is one of the best places in the world to do business, with a strong and stable business environment along with a rich pool of talent underpinned by dynamic programmes, like Skillsnet.

Now, we must do more to nurture entrepreneurship. We must work with the government to make our capital gains tax more competitive to help entrepreneurs take risks to succeed. We must Looking forward to support relief programmes to encourage investment, as well as connected health in ensure access to venture capital medtech in 2019: and seed funding for early stage FIRE1 CEO, Conor Hanley, start-ups. and S3 Connected Health With the right business CEO, John O’Brien, environment, not only will the have been appointed as medtech industry drive growth, but Chair and Vice Chair, it will also develop new ways to save respectively, of the Irish and transform lives.

Read more at healthnews.ie

4 HEALTHNEWS.IE

MedTech Association to share their expertise and help the group capitalise on these exciting growth opportunities.

Ireland – second in the world in biotech manufacture MATT MORAN Director, BioPharmaChem Ireland

T

he Biopharmachem sector shows no sign of slowing down. Recent investments – totalling some €10 billion in the last 10 years – are now starting to come into operation. Much of this investment has been in cuttingedge biotech manufacture with industry leaders such as MSD, Pfizer, Bristol Myers Squibb, Mallinckrodt, Eli Lilly, Takeda, Wu-Xi and Alexion all adding significant investments to their ever-growing portfolios. It is no surprise that Ireland now has 10 out of the top 10 global biopharma players here. Ireland is considered only second to the USA as a hub for biotech manufacture.

There are a number of reasons for this impressive growth trajectory, which sees the sector valued at over €65 billion in exports – that’s over half the goods exported from Ireland. These include: • Competitive rates of taxation • Strong record of regulatory compliance • Location within the European Union • Strong research base • Excellent pool of talented and experienced people It is worth considering the importance of Ireland’s talent pool.

A highly regulated sector such as biopharma depends very much on having the right level of employee in terms of qualification, aptitude and experience. There is no doubt that Ireland continues to come up trumps in all these areas.

We must continue to invest in talent However, in the mind of BioPharmaChem Ireland (BPCI) and its members, we can never lose sight of the need to continually invest in our talent pool. The BPCI Talent and Skills Group continues to champion this, working closely with the IDA, Skillnets and organisations such as NIBRT and Innopharma to ensure that the pipeline remains well fed.

In 2016, the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs conducted a comprehensive review for the sector, concluding that an additional 8,400 job opportunities would be created in biopharma by 2020. We are well on the way to meeting this. The sector currently employs well over 30,000 and this number is set to grow.

BPCI continues to work with the educational community to ensure enough graduates take up the study of STEM subjects.

Encouraging apprenticeships in biopharma They have also championed the brand new, Laboratory Apprenticeship Programme, designed to encourage school leavers and mature students to consider a non-traditional apprenticeship within the sector, allowing them to ‘earn as they learn’. The programme was launched in partnership with Tallaght Institute of Technology, supported by The Higher Educational Authority (HEA) and Solas last year. It opens up a vocational route into the sector, reflecting the German and Swiss models. In the view of BPCI, this will help greatly by expanding the existing talent pool.

BPCI also promotes the BioPharmaChem Skillnet, which supports ongoing training and skill development within the sector, allowing companies to refine and develop their existing skills bases.

There is no doubt that, as the sector continues to become more sophisticated – employing digitisation etc – opportunities will open up for entire new skill sets, such as information technology and software development.

This will also offer excellent opportunities for local specialist service providers.

Local company, APC, is a great example of this. Based in Cherrywood, Dublin, APC provides contract development and manufacturing support to the sector. It has developed a particular expertise in continuous manufacturing – both small and large molecule – truly cutting-edge technology.

It is important not to ignore the contribution that Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) makes though its support for its centres.

Centres such as The Synthesis and Solid State Pharmaceutical Centre (SSPC), Curam and The Alimentary Probiotic Centre (APC).

These novel organisations bring industry together with the third level research community to help promote research in the sector. Of course, they also help to develop the kind of expertise required to drive the sector on to the next level.

Read more at healthnews.ie MEDIAPLANET

AN INDEPENDENT SUPPLEMENT BY MEDIAPLANET

Ireland’s Life Sciences talent gap needs a flexible solution to education As the demand for highly-skilled workers in pharma increases, flexible and future-focused approaches to qualifications and continuous professional development will help to fill Ireland’s talent gap.

T

he demand for talent can be met with flexible approaches to learning and continuous professional development (CPD).

Lifelong learning is a fact of any professional career, and a growing and rapidly changing pharma sector needs to look both within and outside of the industry to develop and up-skill people.

Pharmaceutical companies must work with industry and academic partners to develop education programmes that can be delivered full-time and part-time with online remote learning support.

This flexibility will help those already in the industry to get to the next career level, but will also help people from outside the pharma industry transition into roles.

Qualifications must be relevant and up-to-date To ensure that education and training are meeting the

MEDIAPLANET

needs of the pharma industry, it’s critical to work with key industry stakeholders to develop programmes that prepare students for these high-tech jobs.

Industry lecturers and insights from business can build academic programmes that align academic learning and practical applications.

Training in advanced manufacturing technologies and data science to future proof our workforce and industry Advanced manufacturing technologies and data science are critical areas of focus for the world’s top pharma companies. To keep Ireland’s pharma workforce at the leading edge, courses and qualifications that feature technology and data analytics topics, as well as subjects such as Lean Six Sigma, are even more important now. Managers and

To keep Ireland’s pharma workforce at the leading edge, qualifications that feature advanced manufacturing technology and data analytics topics are critical.” leaders in the industry are starting to explore how they can prepare their people to lead into the digital future of high-tech pharma manufacturing.

Sponsored by

Read more at innopharmalabs.com/edu

DR IAN JONES CEO, Innopharma

How Innopharma Education has helped up-skill Ireland’s pharma industry Government funding and support has been instrumental in helping people and industry get the right skills.

Since 2010, Innopharma Education are incredibly proud to have helped thousands of people gain pharma qualifications through initiatives like Springboard+.

Over 70% of these people are now employed in all regions of Ireland’s pharma industry.

Without this commitment from the government, our industry talent gap would be even larger. In addition to the Springboard+ initiative, approaches like the recently announced Human Capital

Initiative will help even further in addressing this skills gap, provide Ireland with a competitive advantage in attracting pharma investment. Innopharma Education look forward to working with industry, government and our academic partners Technical University Dublin (Tallaght) and Griffith College, to map out the next phase of professional learning and skills development that will keep Ireland’s pharmaceutical industry competitive and prepared for what’s next.

HEALTHNEWS.IE

5

AN INDEPENDENT SUPPLEMENT BY MEDIAPLANET CREDIT: SEVENTYFOUR

CREDIT: KKOLOSOV

Addressing the manufacturing challenges of Brexit SIMON MCKEEVER CEO, Irish Exporters Association

The European Union has some of the strictest health and safety manufacturing rules and requirements on human and veterinary medicinal products. The UK’s scheduled departure from the European Union will have significant consequences on the regulatory approval, supply chain and manufacturing process for companies producing both active substances and final goods in the UK.

O

nce the UK leaves the European Union – on 29 March or following a potential transition period – the United Kingdom and goods manufactured within the UK will be classified as a third-country and third-country manufactured product. Therefore, any medicinal and other pharmaceutical product manufactured by a marketing authorisation holder in the UK will have to comply with all the EU’s strict rules on imported pharmaceutical goods.

Under EU legislation, authorised manufacturers are obliged to use only active substances that have been manufactured in accordance with the detailed guidelines on good manufacturing practices for starting materials.

Written approval needed for UK medicinal exports to EU In addition, active substances for medicinal products for human use can only be imported into the Union if, among other things, the active substances are accompanied by a written confirmation from a relevant competent authority in the exporting third country, which confirms that the standards of good manufacturing practice and control of the plant are equivalent to those in the Union.

If the final manufacturing site of a product is located in the United Kingdom following Brexit, European Union legislation stipulates strict rules on the importation of medicinal products from third countries. Under EU legislation, importers of medicinal and other pharmaceutical goods must be in possession of manufacturing licences granted by national competent authorities under Article 40(3) of Directive 2001/83/ EC and Article 44(3) of Directive 2001/82/EC. Such licences may be granted to third-country manufacturers under a number of conditions such as EU-licensed representatives and inspected goods-manufacturing processes.

Medicinal manufacturing processes to need adapting for EU compliance According to EU-Brexit notices, for centrally authorised medicinal products, marketing authorisation holders must therefore need to specify an authorised importer established in the Union and submit the corresponding variation. Moreover, they may also be required to adapt processes and to consider changes to the terms of the marketing authorisation in order to ensure its continued validity.

Furthermore, when importing medicinal and other pharmaceutical goods from a third-country into the EU, marketing authorisation holders are required to specify an EUbased site of batch control in order to facilitate full qualitative and quantitative tests, among others, on each production batch of at least all active substances as required by the national competent authority.

For further information on how to prepare and mitigate the impacts of Brexit on your business, consult the HPRA, European Commission or European Medicines Agency.

Read more at healthnews.ie

6 HEALTHNEWS.IE

Becoming ever-more personalised in treatment development PROFESSOR MARK FERGUSON Director General, Science Foundation Ireland and Chief Scientific Adviser, Government of Ireland

Health research impacts almost everyone, whether it be through treating a life-altering disease, informing nutrition for the optimal diet, or dealing with the challenging problems of an ageing population.

A

dvances in science and technology mean that we are rapidly moving away from a “one size for all” healthcare to a “personalised” approach, tailored to individual health and lifestyle needs. In Ireland, we are at the forefront of many of the research developments in this sector both in our academic institutions and in industry. Here are a few examples: FutureNeuro, the SFI Research Centre for Chronic and Rare Neurological Diseases, is based at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Led by Professor David Henshall, the team seeks a better understanding of brain diseases like epilepsy, which allows them to develop treatments that are not only effective, but which are also personalised. They are tailored to the patient, taking into account both individual genetic differences as well as those elicited through studying individual brain waves and responses to different treatments.

At CÚRAM, the SFI Research Centre for Medical Devices based at NUI Galway, research teams led by Professor Abhay Pandit explore and develop innovative personalised medical technologies. With a particular focus on respiratory, neural, cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, renal and soft tissue disorders, the overarching aim of CÚRAM is to provide affordable, transformative solutions for chronic diseases.

Likewise the cell-based research

in regenerative medicine, led

by Professor Fergal O’Brien of the SFI Amber Research Centre, addresses individual patient needs following trauma or arthritis.

Professor Walter Kolch’s research group at the Conway Institute UCD are pioneering approaches to tailor personalised effective pharmaceutical treatments to individual cancer patients.

A major area of growth is the development of wearable sensors to continuously monitor various parameters e.g. blood pressure, heart rate, sweat, distance walked etc. and analysis of the large amounts of data these devices generate to provide tailored advice to the individual on e.g. sports training, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, detecting early disease onset etc. Much of this occurs in the SFI Research Centre for Big Data Analytics - Insight - and several innovations have resulted in startup companies, most recently Outdoor Sports who, in March 2019, announced a partnership with major US league soccer team, Colorado Rapids, to bring their technology to individual athlete testing and tracking.

In all of the above examples, there is extensive, and mutually beneficial, research collaboration and cooperation with companies both large and small e.g. J&J, Boston Scientific, Stryker, Astra Zeneca, Arch Therapeutics.

In a new, all-inclusive, approach to funding competitive research,

which will improve Irish society and the economy, including the health of people living in Ireland, SFI have launched Challenge Based Funding. To compete for the SFI Future Innovator Prize, multidisciplinary teams must identify economical and societal challenges and develop potential new solutions. Many of the competing teams have identified personalised health related challenges e.g. creation of personalised orthopaedic implants, treatment of rare diseases like epidermolysis bullosa (EB) through gene-editing, reducing the burden of chronic pain, and improving breast cancer diagnosis.

Given the rapid pace of scientific discovery and its application, and the ever-growing opportunities arising from the convergence of genetic analysis, sensors, ICT, big data analytics and artificial intelligence, the potential to develop better diagnostic tools and therapeutic interventions that are more effective because they are focused on the individual, has never been greater. It is important that researchers in Ireland from both academia and industry remain at the forefront of these exciting developments - so that all of us can benefit by leading healthier, longer and fulfilling lives.

Read more at healthnews.ie MEDIAPLANET

AN INDEPENDENT SUPPLEMENT BY MEDIAPLANET

How bioengineering pushes the boundaries of personalised medicine Better patient outcomes are only possible when the boundaries of science and engineering are pushed, so research and development is crucial in Ireland’s health science sector.

PROFESSOR DANNY KELLY Principal Investigator, AMBER Centre & Director, Trinity Centre for BioEngineering, Trinity College Dublin

R

esearch advancements in regenerative medicine will transform the way patients are treated in Ireland, according to Professor Daniel Kelly, AMBER Principal Investigator and Director of Trinity Centre for BioEngineering, at Trinity College Dublin.

He envisions a future where hospitals will have 3D bioprinting systems, enabling ‘off-the-shelf’ patient-specific biological implants to treat diseases such as osteoarthritis – which is a core area of research for his team.

Professor Kelly’s research includes the use of 3D bioprinting to generate anatomically accurate, biomimetic constructs that can be used to regenerate both cartilage and bone in a diseased joint.

Industry collaboration is key to realising vision Access to and working with industry partners is central to creating

targeted advances in materials and process technologies in this space.

“Working with industry partners such as Johnson and Johnson means that we have the capability to translate our research into production, delivering new products and innovations,” Professor Kelly notes. “This is essential for market differentiation in the Life Science sector, and also having real impact on patient outcomes.”

Medtech support helps innovate bioscaffolding “Partnership, innovation and scientific collaboration is key,” according to Professor Fergal O’Brien, AMBER Deputy Director, who has successfully translated work in collagen biomaterials to repair damaged bone and cartilage from his lab in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, to human patients through a spin-out medtech company. He is looking to the future.

PROFESSOR FERGAL O’BRIEN AMBER Centre Deputy Director and Professor, Bioengineering and Regenerative Medicine RCSI

Collaborating with other research groups opens up possibilities to generate new ideas and solutions, which will drive the future of healthcare.”

“We want to expand into new and exciting areas of research such as the development of electroconductive biomaterials for nerve repair,” he added.

“We’re looking at different lines of research to do this, one of which is to incorporate nanomaterials, such as graphene, into 3D bioscaffolds.”

Multi-disciplinary teams Developing these next generation implants relies on collaboration with industry but also between scientists and engineers working across disciplines.

“The success of this work relies on the ability to work across traditional

subject and discipline boundaries to access a diversity of scientific expertise,” Professor O’Brien continues.

“Collaborating with other research groups opens up possibilities to generate new ideas and solutions, which will drive the future of healthcare.”

Both agree that being Principal Investigators within AMBER, the Science Foundation Ireland centre for Advanced Materials and Bioengineering Research, has been a key enabler for large scale engagements with industry and cross-discipline collaboration, and has opened up new avenues for research.

Commenting on the relationship between research and industry, Professor O’Brien notes: “A thriving research sector, which has been delivering impactful scientific research for many years has been central to the success of the medical

technology and biopharmaceutical sector in Ireland.

“As scientists, we constantly look to the future to ask what's next for healthcare, but also, how can we ensure our research is translated into patient benefit while ideally creating high value jobs in Ireland.

“Maintaining and nurturing this ecosystem is essential to sustaining continued economic growth in the life science sector.”

Sponsored by

AMBER is the SFI Centre for Advanced Materials and BioEnginnering hosted at Trinity College Dublin

Read more at ambercentre.ie

Industry, academic and clinical expertise puts Ireland at the forefront of medical device research Research must take an innovative approach, incorporating novel biomaterials, imaging, drug and cell-based technologies to develop and validate new, combinational, medical devices that translate clinical needs into therapies.

B

y developing physiologicallyresponsive, biomimetic and electrically-active medical devices, life sciences researchers can provide next-generation and disruptive therapeutic interventions for a broad spectrum of diseases with clinical needs.

There is a tremendous opportunity to develop a positive, lasting impact not only on the healthcare industry and the increasing number of individuals affected by chronic illnesses worldwide, but on the economy and society at a global level.

Collaboration is key for tackling chronic diseases A key measure of excellence in research is the ability to create unique, synergistic networks across academic, industry and clinical institutions. Such collaboration capitalises on a comprehensive set of tools, expertise and perspectives to progress medical device research and its clinical application in each of our disease target areas.

MEDIAPLANET

Merging industry and clinical expertise means research and output capabilities in the medical device sector span a much wider spectrum than ever before. The possibilities for conceptualisation, discovery, development and clinical translation of innovative, ‘smart’ solutions are very exciting in the aim to bring about a better future for patients of chronic diseases.

Addressing critical patient needs Scientific programmes that address key problems, technical challenges and the current limitations in medical device design and functionalisation must focus on improving existent devices, developing convergent technologies into clinical solutions and establishing quality systems of standardisation.

Research programmes driven by specialist researchers, industry partnerships and clinicians, can develop solutions for specific clinical

PROFESSOR ABHAY PANDIT Scientific Director, CÚRAM, the Science Foundation Ireland Centre Research in Medical Devices, NUI Galway

targets to include respiratory, neural, cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, renal and urological and soft tissue.

Strong partnerships yield innovative research Pooling academic and industry partners is central to establishing a global hub of research expertise in medical device technology and positions Ireland at the forefront of the world’s medical device industry – a leading area of innovation, employment and export.

Innovative approaches allow for development and validation of both traditional and new combinational medical devices from molecular design stage to implant manufacturing.

Devices must be developed with strong clinical collaborations to enable rapid translation of research findings to clinical application. Key to this approach is building a unique network of national and international collaborations, integrating world class clinical, academic and industrial

partners.

The next phase of growth must see Irish research centres continue to develop as world-leaders to improve and enhance traditional medical devices and develop the next generation of medical implants, cell device and drug-device combination products to address unmet clinical needs.

By partnering with local SMEs and multinational medical device, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, we will create new employment opportunities alongside training in medical device research and clinical application for industry, academia and clinicians to train future innovation leaders.

Sponsored by

NUI Galway CÚRAM supports industry from basic scientific research, through translational preclinical and clinical development, into regulatory and commercialisation readiness. Our vision is to develop affordable, innovative and transformative devicebased solutions to treat global chronic diseases.

Our research in innovative ‘smart’ medical devices and implants will benefit patients with chronic ailments such as cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, neural, soft tissue, renal and urology, and respiratory diseases.

Read more at curamdevices.ie/ HEALTHNEWS.IE

7