LSI 2023 Buzz Report

LSI 2023 is in the books.  This year’s Emerging MedTech Summit saw 1300 innovators, investors and collaborators, over 300 company presentations and dozens of panels.  The energy was undoubtedly electric all week as companies showcased how their innovations were solving the unique problems of healthcare, seeking investment and creating awareness.

Investors’ Forecast

The state of the capital markets was leaning heavy on everyone’s mind as we saw 2021 put out 9.3B invested and 2022 at a strong 7.4B but a significant retraction starting in Q4 last year and into 2023.  How are founders expected to attract new money today?  Investors advised a down round is expected along with a reliance on insiders to bridge milestones in the near term. As post-approval and commercialized companies are being devalued, the capital is moving to de-risked options, making it harder for Series A to attract investors for clinical approval.

There will continue to be investments but gone are the days where revenue growth is enough.  A path to profitability along with proof of ROI to Healthcare Providers will attract the capital needed to execute.  The good news?  Several investors predicted MedTech will regain its share of capital vs. BioTech in the Life Science segment.

Industry Trends

The use of big data showcased by Dr. Butte, Chief Data Scientist for the University of California Health Care system was a macro market trend at the show.  Dr. Butte showed that after years of aggregated EMR and cloud computing, the data is now producing signals that are shaping the decision making from how to treat type two diabetes to what products to buy.  This data has also been used for real-world regulatory approval.  We heard how this vast amount of data is already being fed into AI systems, streamlining clinical decision making with over 150 AI devices approved by the FDA last year.

Top 10 Emerging Companies from LSI 2023 to Look Out For

Vicarious Surgical Inc.

The Vicarious Surgical Robot is a single incision solution with a center pivoting arm designed for surgeons to work from any direction through a single 1.5cm incision. This design means more freedom of movement and less risk of external collisions around the surgical field.  It intends to maximize visualization, precision and control of instruments in robotic-assisted minimally invasive surgery.

Harmonic Bionics, Inc.

With a steady and growing need for physical therapy in the US and throughout the world, Harmonic Bionics has developed Harmony SHR™:  a bilateral upper extremity exoskeleton to aid in the rehabilitation process for those suffering with neurological and musculoskeletal movement impairments.  Harmony’s multi-plane movements and bilateral design open up new research possibilities, while using precise motion and effort sensing to achieve objective assessment.

Lazzaro Medical

In modern healthcare, there is very seldom a device that can treat a previously untreated disease.  Tracheobronchomalacia (TBM) is a degenerative disease that causes a complete or near complete collapse of the airway. This commonly misdiagnosed disease is estimated to affect 50% of the 8 million COPD patients whose previous treatment is worse than the disease.  Until now, the only option for people suffering from TBM has been extremely risky and invasive open surgery. Many patients are simply not healthy enough to go through with the procedure due to the significant risk of complications or death.  Lazzaro Medical has developed the world’s first minimally invasive robotic TBM repair surgery using the LM Scaffold System™. This system restores healthy breathing for previously untreatable people—dramatically reducing operating times by an estimated 50% and shortening patient recovery times from months to days.

Nanochon

There is currently no available medical device or standard of treatment on the market for the repair of advanced joint injury in adults ages 18 to 55. Nanochon is developing an easy-to-use surgical implant that can quickly return younger patients to a full quality of life.  Their technology is a minimally-invasive early intervention that could help avert the need for total knee replacement.

MIMOSA Diagnostics

MIMOSA Pro provides a proactive approach to skin health, allowing clinicians to implement earlier interventions, or even prevent them from being needed at all.  The tiny hand-held device can be used by nurses, doctors, or other clinicians, to collect & collate data for review by the expert clinician – allowing for greater efficiency & a reduction in workload for the clinician and unprecedented access to care for patients.

Endiatx

Endiatx is paving the way to the future by building microbotics to be used inside the human body.  Pillbot™ is a multivitamin sized intrabody robot that uses jets to position the camera as it travels down the intestine to disrupt the routine yet invasive endoscopy screening modality.

ImmersiveTouch

Impacting surgical efficacy with augmented and virtual reality, ImmersiveTouch is providing surgeons with intuitive surgical planning, image guide surgeries and completely immersive patient consultation.  They’ve created products that enhance physician capabilities and create new categories of care that redefine optimal patient outcomes.

Zeto

Zeto is democratizing access to EEG, providing the first meaningful evolution to the space since inception.  Their rapid EEG brain monitoring allows acute care centers to provide a level of diagnostics to brain health by lowering costs, increasing turnaround times and providing a much better patient experience.

Access Vascular

Access Vascular designed devices to prevent the most common and costly complications in vascular access with their MIMIX™ technology, designed to reduce thrombosis, a leading cause of multiple complications for indwelling catheters.  Two recent studies show zero occlusions for the HyrdoPiCC product and 0% DVT for HyrdoMID compared to a 7% with a standard catheter.

nView medical 

nView Medical’s  nView s1™ brings breakthrough 3D imaging technology to pediatrics. Their unique innovation provides the ability to capture very low-dose 3D images instantly.  With true-map navigation, the nView s1™ doubles up as a surgical guidance system with GPS-like technology that uses a true image of the anatomy as a map.  The system seamlessly integrates imaging, tracking and AI technologies to augment the surgeon’s understanding of the surgery, providing intraoperative planning, guidance and quality control.

With so many emerging technologies, it’s impossible to highlight all of the showstoppers at LSI.  Did you attend this year’s Emerging MedTech Summit?  Let us know in the comments your takeaways from the show.