Highlights From McDermott's 2016 Pharmaceutical/Medtech Dealmaking Symposium

Summary

On October 25, 2016, McDermott Will & Emery held its fifth annual Pharmaceutical/Medtech Dealmaking Symposium in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The day consisted of a series of thought-provoking panels with leading dealmakers in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical device and digital health sectors who spoke to the current dynamics, challenges and emerging opportunities in the life sciences industry. This piece describes the key takeaways from the event.

In Depth

On October 25, 2016, McDermott Will & Emery held its fifth annual Pharmaceutical/Medtech Dealmaking Symposium in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The day consisted of a series of thought-provoking panels with leading dealmakers in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical device and digital health sectors who spoke to the current dynamics, challenges and emerging opportunities in the life sciences industry. Here are the key takeaways from the event:

Convergence is driving innovation through cross-industry collaboration.

Innovators have turned to "convergence"—the confluence of pharmaceuticals, devices, information technology, big data, materials science and other industries to develop innovative health care solutions—in search of new ways to approach medical treatment, engage patients, improve outcomes, change behavior and deliver a higher value to patients, health care providers and insurers. Emerging as a main theme at the symposium, experienced professionals across industries spoke at length about the trend of convergent solutions, and all agreed convergence is a game-changer for health care. Harry Greenspun, MD, chief medical officer and managing director of KF Health Solutions, shared his thoughts on convergence in a keynote address, observing that shifts in today's health care market toward sharing and analyzing information, coordinating care and engaging consumers, combined with the transition to value-based care, are key drivers for convergence. Consumers—who have traditionally been charged with coordinating their own care—are now demanding increased access to information for themselves and their providers, both to inform the quality of care they are receiving across all of their health care providers and to personally make lifestyle choices that improve health.

The industry is racing to adapt to these demands, however, Dr. Greenspun argued that many changes are needed to develop solutions that will dramatically transform health care. A shift to a value-based payment structures rises to the top of the list as critical to increasing innovation in the care delivery space because it will align incentives for the development of tools that inform and deliver quality outcomes. Further, the industry will need to be smarter in collecting data and analyzing it in a meaningful way in order to extract the right data for digital health solutions to thrive.

Cross-industry panelists speaking on convergence in health care agreed that patient-centric care and increased access to data and information are crucial elements to improving health outcomes, and elaborated on the unique challenges that companies developing convergent solutions will need to overcome. As one example, while the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued some helpful guidance, it can be challenging to companies—particularly technology companies with limited exposure to the FDA—to understand what is required to market digital health tools. More guidance and increased transparency will decrease the regulatory barriers to entry. Another challenge is the lack of standards for interoperability, which is necessary to provide broad access to data; access that is key for data-driven health care solutions such as population health management. While some companies are offering technology solutions to increase interoperability, the panelists welcome policy changes to bridge current interoperability gaps.

The panelists expressed excitement about the potential for life-altering solutions emerging from partnerships across industry sectors. There are cultural challenges to overcome when working across industries, but those challenges are small in light of the potential rewards. Working with a cross-industry partnerand coming out of a...

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