Medical technology, or medtech, is a mix of healthcare and technology. Because both healthcare and technology are changing very fast. Medtech is growing quickly and becoming very important. New tools like automation, artificial intelligence (AI). Digital therapeutics are helping doctors and nurses do their jobs better.
These new technologies make medtech a good area for people to invest money. Medtech has made it easier for doctors to take care of patients. Medtech made the healthcare industry work better, and helped more people get the healthcare they need.
In the last few years, doctors and hospitals have had many problems, like not having enough staff and trouble getting supplies. But technology has helped solve these problems. At the same time, people want to be healthier and want healthcare that is made just for them. This has given new medtech companies chances to help.
The medtech market has grown a lot recently and has changed healthcare in big ways. This growth is expected to keep going. In 2020, medtech was worth $456.9 billion. By 2030, it is expected to be worth $800 billion. Also, healthcare companies are trying to become better by merging with or buying medtech companies so they can stay competitive.
There are seven important trends in medical technology (medtech) that are shaping the future in 2024. Here, we will talk about these trends and what the future looks like for medtech in 2024 and beyond.
- More Use of AI (Artificial Intelligence): AI is getting smarter and helping doctors make better decisions.
- Better Digital Health Tools: Tools like apps and wearable devices are helping people stay healthy. Tools are helping people to manage their health better.
- Personalized Medicine: Healthcare is becoming more tailored to individual needs. Each person gets care that is best for them.
- Improved Medical Devices: New and better devices are being created to help doctors treat patients more effectively.
- Telehealth Growth: More people are using video calls to talk to their doctors, making it easier to get care from home.
- Focus on Mental Health: There is more attention on helping people with their mental health using new technologies.
- Increased Health Data Use: Doctors and scientists are using health data more effectively to understand and treat diseases.
These trends are making medtech very exciting and important for the future. In 2024 and beyond, we can expect even more improvements and innovations in medtech, helping doctors and patients in many new ways.
Trends in Medical Technology
There are some important things happening in medical technology (medtech) in 2024.
- Medtech companies are not just doing their usual work; they are trying new things and expanding what they do.
- Around the world, companies are merging and buying each other less than before.
- There is a big focus on making sure everyone around the world can get good healthcare, no matter where they live.
- Medtech companies are paying more attention to being kind to the environment. following rules to be more sustainable and fair (this is called ESG).
- There are many new ways to use AI (artificial intelligence) to help medtech grow and improve.
- People are using video calls to talk to doctors and digital tools to stay healthy more and more.
- Devices like fitness trackers and smartwatches that measure our health are becoming more popular.
- New drugs to help people lose weight are being looked at, but they are not expected to change the medtech industry much.
These are the big trends making medtech exciting and important for the future.
Medtech Companies
Medtech companies are changing how they do business. They need to keep more supplies ready and offer new services to make money and stay competitive. That\’s why many medtech companies are trying to help patients in more ways.
One example is Medtronic. Medtronic usually makes medical devices, but they bought a company called Cardiocom. Cardiocom helps doctors check on patients from far away using telehealth and remote monitoring. By adding these new services, Medtronic can help patients more and give hospitals better tools and value. This means Medtronic can be a bigger part of patients\’ health care.
In 2022, not many medtech companies were merging or buying each other. People thought there would be more deals in 2023, but this hasn’t happened. The number of deals is still low, and the total value of these deals is much less than before.
So far in 2023, there have been 173 medtech deals worth $13.6 billion. An expert named Mike Matson thinks there will be 353 deals by the end of the year, worth $27.7 billion. This is a lot less than in 2022, when there were 422 deals worth $67.2 billion.
Medtech companies used to do many deals, so now people are wondering why this is happening and when it will get better.
The main reason is the economy is uncertain. Sellers want to keep their high prices, and many companies are trying to save money by getting rid of less profitable parts of their business. Also, the government is being stricter about big companies merging, making companies more careful about the deals they choose to do.
Even though not many deals are happening now, experts think that as we move further away from the 2020 pandemic, things will get better. They thought 2023 would be a good year for deals, but the market is still not stable. They think 2024 will also be slow, but the deals that do happen will be more balanced in size. There aren’t many high-growth, profitable companies to buy, so companies need to act fast if they want to make good deals.
Making Healthcare Fair for Everyone
The pandemic showed that healthcare is not the same for everyone. In the U.S. and some European countries, people with private insurance get much better care than those with government insurance. This mostly affects ethnic and racial minorities, people in rural areas, the underprivileged, and the elderly. But medtech is helping make healthcare fairer for everyone.
Digital health tools are being made to help groups that were left out before. These tools can make healthcare more equal and improve how well patients do. When more people get good healthcare, it helps communities grow and do better economically.
Wearable devices, like fitness trackers, and other tools that people can use at home are also making healthcare more equal. These devices help people take care of their own health without going to a hospital or clinic.
Right now, many people are feeling the pressure of high costs and economic problems, making healthcare access even harder. Healthcare providers are also dealing with staff shortages and funding issues. This is making them more interested in medtech solutions like consumer devices and diagnostic tools, which help them provide good care even with these challenges.
Caring for the Planet and People (ESG)
Many industries, including medtech, are trying to be more sustainable. The healthcare industry makes more than 4.6% of the world\’s greenhouse gas emissions. Medical devices are a big part of this problem because of how they are made and used.
The government and investors are asking companies to find ways to reduce their carbon footprints. Work toward using no more carbon. Some of the biggest medtech companies have already set big goals to be more environmentally friendly in the coming years. Studies show that the medtech companies that will do well in the future are the ones that share their plans for sustainability and truly work towards these goals.
Medtech is also helping people by making devices that everyone can use to take care of their health. This helps make healthcare fairer for everyone. This focus on caring for the environment and people is called ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) and is expected to become even more important in the next few years.
Using AI to Help in Healthcare
Generative artificial intelligence (genAI) is a new technology that\’s becoming very popular in many industries, including medtech. GenAI can make healthcare work better and easier, helping doctors and nurses and improving care for patients.
Here are some ways genAI can help in healthcare:
- Monitoring Cleanliness: It can watch to make sure healthcare workers clean their hands properly.
- Reading Tests: It can help read and understand diagnostic tests better.
- Finding Patterns: It can look at lots of patient data and find patterns that doctors might miss.
- Doing Routine Tasks: It can help with everyday jobs like filling out paperwork.
Even though it will take time for genAI to be fully used in medical products and services. Many companies are already using it to be more productive and are looking for more ways to use it. This year, more companies will try new things with genAI, like using voice commands. They will need to learn new skills and hire people who know how to use this technology to get the most benefits. Companies that start using genAI early will have an advantage over those that don’t.
Experts say genAI will be very helpful for medtech in the long run. We are just starting to see its full impact. But using genAI the right way will help healthcare workers spend more time on important tasks, save money and time in hospitals, and make patients healthier. AI is not expected to hurt the medtech industry. In fact, companies that don\’t start using AI might fall behind.
Telemedicine and Digital Health
Telemedicine became very popular during COVID-19 because it gave a safe way to see doctors without going to their offices. Now, even after the pandemic, people like how easy it is to use.
For people who can\’t travel or don\’t have a lot of money, telemedicine lets them still see a doctor. Even if people can go to the doctor, using telemedicine means they can get help from home for small problems. Which makes it faster to get an appointment and helps doctors not feel so busy.
Digital therapeutics are also growing. These are medical tools that use software and sometimes AI to help treat and prevent diseases. Doctors can use these tools to help patients without needing to see them in person.
Using telemedicine and digital health tools makes healthcare better and easier for everyone. People can take care of their health from home and still get good care. Experts think these technologies will keep growing because they help a lot of people and are good for the healthcare industry.
Wearable health devices
In 2023, wearable technology and biometric devices became very popular. This trend will keep growing. By 2033, the global market for wearable technology is expected to reach $161 billion, increasing by 6% each year compared to 2023.
These devices include things like Fitbits and Apple Watches, as well as special sensors. Like electrocardiogram (ECG), photoplethysmography (PPG), and hydration and sweat sensors. They help people manage their health by tracking things like heart rate, oxygen levels, and hydration.
Wearable devices are used in many areas of healthcare, such as audiology, nursing, physical therapy, and more. Even though new devices are coming out quickly. There\’s still a lot of room for companies to create new ones that can help people and make life easier for hospitals and clinics.
These devices make it easier for people to stay healthy by giving them information about their bodies. This also helps doctors by giving them more information to help their patients.
Weight Loss Drugs
In 2023, injections like Semaglutide have become very popular in the biopharma industry. They were first used for diabetes, but now drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy are also known for helping people lose weight effectively. This has caused a big increase in developing new weight loss drugs.
However, experts don\’t think these drugs will make a big difference in the medtech industry this year. Some worry that drugs like GLP-1 agonists might make medtech companies focused on obesity less important.
But, medtech companies that make products for obesity feel confident. They think weight loss drugs will work together with their products, not replace them. And companies that focus on heart problems or sleep apnea don\’t think weight loss drugs will be strong enough to replace their treatments.
Also, a study by McKinsey says only a small percentage of people will use weight loss drugs for a long time. This is because they can be expensive, hard to get, and have bad side effects.
Medtech Industry Outlook to 2024
The future looks bright for the medtech industry. Companies in this field are now worth more. They were before the pandemic, and experts expect them to keep growing and making more profit in the coming years. Big trends like more older people, better access to healthcare, and new technology are all helping medtech grow and improve.
In 2024, the United States, China, and Japan are going to make up most of the new growth in medtech. India is also becoming more important because its government supports medtech. More money is being invested, and new local companies are starting up.
Technology gets better faster and people care more about staying healthy, medtech is set to keep growing. This good news means that medtech companies need to keep being creative and not get left behind. Investors are very interested in medtech right now, and new companies are always trying to change the industry. So, it\’s important for medtech companies to plan carefully for growth and to keep getting stronger.
Medtech Alpha Sense
To succeed in the medtech industry, it\’s important to do good research and make smart decisions. AlphaSense is a top company that provides information about markets. Including over 10,000 sources and more than 1,500 research providers all in one place.
People like analysts, researchers, and decision-makers in medtech can find special research reports. They are usually hard to get or cost a lot of money. AlphaSense helps companies do thorough research so they can make better decisions and stay competitive.
- News about healthcare, reports about industries, reports about companies, documents about regulations like 510(k) filings and information from places like PubMed, the World Health Organization, MedlinePlus, and the FDA.
- More than 1,500 research providers, including Wall Street Insights® which is a special collection of research reports for businesses, including healthcare.
- A library of transcripts from expert calls where people talk to healthcare professionals, customers, competitors, and experts in the industry.
AlphaSense also has smart features that use AI to help you search and understand information better. It can find important things in big amounts of data that might be hard to read. Some features include:
- Alerts that tell you when something new happens with regulations, companies, industries, or possible investments.
- Tools to help with buying and selling companies, like lists of companies you might want to buy and research to make sure everything is okay.
- Technology called Smart Synonyms™ that helps make sure you don\’t miss any important information.
- Smart Summaries, a new tool that uses AI to quickly tell you the most important things from meetings about how well companies are doing.
Using AlphaSense can help you keep up with how fast the medtech industry is changing and give you an edge over others. You can start using AlphaSense for free to see how it helps you.
Read Also :: The Role of Hygiene and Sanitation in Disease Prevention
Conclusion
Medtech industry looks very promising for 2024. There are lots of chances for companies to grow and make new inventions. Medtech companies can use these trends to help patients more, make their work better, and make healthcare easier to get. By spending more on research and working with other companies, medtech firms can keep up with what healthcare needs around the world. The medtech industry is strong and can handle problems like new rules and changes in the market. People are focusing on new technology and ways to help patients, so medtech will keep growing and changing how healthcare works everywhere.
