INNOVAHEALTH ANNOUNCEMENTS
We are pleased to report about our newest webinar, on the topic of Healthcare in the COVID-19 World, held last Thursday, September 10th. The conversation featured Michael Mussallem, Chairman and CEO of Edwards Lifesciences, and Dr. Toby Cosgrove, our Senior Partner, and was moderated by Tim Berkowitz, our President and CEO.
Major highlights were:
– The impact of COVID-19 on Edwards Lifesciences and how the company is successfully responding.
– Mr. Mussallem’s perspective on what the post-COVID healthcare and medtech world will look like.
– How Edwards Lifesciences’ culture of innovation and deep expertise in minimally invasive heart surgery are driving new standards of care, which have insulated it from the adverse effects of the pandemic and are generating long-term global growth.
A replay of the webcast is available here or by copying this link in your browser: www.anymeeting.com/734-478-729/EA52DA8787493F.
We look forward to your participation at our next webinar on Thursday, October 22, 2020 at 10am EST for a conversation featuring Mark Bertolini, former CEO of Aetna, Dr. Toby Cosgrove, our firm’s Senior Partner, and Dr. Ariella Golomb, our Managing Director.
Following up on questions from last week’s audience, we felt a particular interest in sharing the answers to two of them here:
“Mike, what COVID implemented changes to your business do you think are likely here to stay beyond this acute phase?”
The rapidly evolving situation with COVID-19 it has necessitated an agile approach to decision-making. For some of our decisions, we have been able to turn to and rely on science, and in other areas, we have been reliant on policies of local or federal governments or hospital systems. Any of these solutions need to accommodate not only scientific information coming from trusted sources, but also the policy decisions from others that we respect. This is a unique situation that we have never faced before. I have appreciation for the importance of trusted partners and trusted sources more broadly within the healthcare community to provide fact-based guidance and information for aiding in decision-making during an uncertain time, as we have certainly relied on many throughout the pandemic. Beyond that, I also expect that some of the technology solutions that we have relied upon heavily during remote work by some of our team will be integrated into our work and practices even as we resume more in-person work. For example, our leaders are utilizing more video messages and video calls to connect with our teams around the globe, which has been a welcome change.
“Where do you see the strongest offshore competition in your space and how will the US continue to sustain its global lead in the medical device sector in the post-COVID era?”
There are a number of regions OUS that are prioritizing and investing in medtech as a part of their strategic growth plans, but I don’t believe any have been as vocal or bold about this as China. Under the “Made in China 2025” plan, the Chinese government is focusing on growth in biomedical and high-end medtech manufacturing. To your second questions – the pandemic has highlighted the importance of the medtech industry in the global healthcare environment, and our industry came together as leaders through AdvaMed so that we could work jointly to be a part of the solution to the immense challenges facing our healthcare community worldwide, and be agile and easy to work with. We prioritized several issues and formed cross-industry teams to address them. One is focused on the tremendous and urgent need for high quality diagnostic tests, and the need for transparency with government and policymakers on the progress here. Another is focused on trying to help patients and health systems return to doing what some might call elective, or less urgent, procedures, not only for the well-being of patients, but also to protect the economic integrity of the healthcare system and hospitals. A third is focused on helping fragile, small medtech companies and innovators to secure the necessary resources to continue their important work of innovating to address patient needs. The work by these teams on recovery and rebuilding is continuing. Separate from the COVID-19 response – in the last few weeks, CMS released its breakthrough pathways proposed rule, which recognizes that medical technology has helped millions of American patients, and that more timely access to safe and effective breakthrough therapies hold the promise to improve patient outcomes and lives. This is clearly a positive way that the U.S. can stimulate local innovation.
Posted: September 18, 2020
