Post Covid-19, re-imagining MedTech & IVD sectors

The world is emerging out of a two-year-long battle with the Covid-19 pandemic. While we still cannot declare victory over Covid-19, we are learning to live with it. We are trying to get back to the (new) normal as well as adopt our learnings from handling Covid-19 in our day-to-day life.

As Covid-19 is now showing a receding trend, the MedTech and IVD industry will need to focus on recovering from the impact of the drastic drop in routine care and elective medical procedures that were neglected during Covid.

Specifically, in the Indian context, it is largely an underserved market, with a high burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) that account for 65 percent mortalities now. Additionally, we have an unfinished agenda of eradicating common infectious diseases like TB, malaria, dengue, etc. that the country has been struggling with since decades. Adding to the plight, data from a 2015-16 demographic and health survey of households indicates 42 percent of people with diabetes and 56 percent of hypertension patients were unaware of their condition. This situation is likely to have worsened during the last two years of the pandemic, when regular healthcare services for conditions other than Covid were disrupted. Since early diagnosis is key to better managing both NCDs and infectious diseases, it is imperative for the MedTech and IVD industry to devise a strategy for diagnostics for the masses. We will have to move from the current concept of centralized labs with complex analyzers, trained personnel, and long turnaround time to the much-needed point-of-care (PoC) tests for patients that can be carried out by non-lab trained personnel, generating results in a short time. Further, within the PoC testing domain, there is advancement from lateral flow assays to capillary-driven, microfluidic chips, called a lab-on-a-chip. These integrate and automate multiple laboratory techniques into a system that fits on a chip up to a maximum of a few square centimetres in size.

India also has an advanced acute care market, which provides high-end medical services at a fraction of the prices of the developed nations in the West. But, India relies on imports for more than 75 percent of high-end medical equipment. Therefore, in addition to enabling basic high-quality products for the masses, the industry has to make India AtmaNirbhar (self-reliant) to cater to its demand for sophisticated advanced medical technology. Given that healthcare providers pay 30 percent to nearly 50 percent in custom duties and charges for importing essential medical devices, equipment, IVD test kits and reagents, indigenous manufacturing will be a huge service to the nation and our countrymen. However, this can happen only gradually.

Predominantly, we have been focused on treating diseases after their onset. MedTech and IVD industry has a crucial role to play in shifting toward predictive and preventive health. Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and Internet of Things (IoT)-incorporated IVD technology can help in advanced data analytics, reduction of errors, and remote monitoring. AI and IoT can also transform diagnostics and treatment through clinical decision support (CDS) solutions. With the ability to process enormous amounts of data, CDS tools can support in suggesting next steps for treatments, alerting providers to available and helpful information, or by identifying potential problems such as dangerous drug interactions. This will be especially relevant in resource-constrained settings.

Last but not the least, MedTech and IVD industry has already forayed into a direct connect with the end user – the patient. Healthcare is becoming more and more patient centric. From personalized diets and training programs, we are now talking about personalized medicine. Thanks to advancements in genomics and medical technology, medical treatment can now be tailor-made according to a person’s own genetic makeup, rather than following a one-size-fits-all approach. There is also increasing traction for personal smart devices – sensors and wearables – that allow recording of health parameters of individual patients over time. This data again feeds into predictive, preventive, and personalized medicine.

Considering the above mentioned forces at play and the enormous potential of the Indian market, with Chinese manufacturing and exports taking a downturn, the MedTech and IVD industry must embark on an accelerated journey to become the MedTech hub for the world over the next five years, akin to India being regarded as pharmacy of the world.