A moment of self reflection: The sector in the spotlight

2018 wasn’t a great year for the image of the medical device sector. Netflix’s ‘The Bleeding Edge’ put the sector right in the spotlight, and for all the wrong reasons.

Then in November, a group of 58 media organisations rallied together to hold the sector to accountability over the international rules and regulations for implants.

The Bleeding Edge took as its focus the FDA’s approvals system, pointing out what the filmmakers deemed to be loopholes in the approvals process.

November’s Implant Files story also honed in on what journalists felt were inherent failings in the regulatory system.

But it’s important to distinguish between the medical device community and the regulatory community here. Not that medtech manufacturers are absolved of ensuring the safety of their devices – quite the contrary. But outwardly, this negative press puts the industry’s reputation under serious threat. It is right that where lives and livelihoods are put at risk by medical devices, every stakeholder in the supply chain must be held accountable.

Take the pharma sector, for example. Yes, I realise horrible things do happen in pharma. It is an industry where price gauging, addiction, and ethically questionable sales tactics exist, and it needs to stop. But, as a consequence of the (by the way, excellent) investigative reporting that has been carried out in recent years, Big Pharma is facing a lack of public trust which it will probably never recover from. That doesn’t mean it’s curtains for the sector, obviously the bottom isn’t about to drop out of the market. But it is a tragedy that the hundreds of thousands of researchers, technicians and engineers in pharmaceuticals have had the outward image of their life-saving work tarnished by greed and the resultant bad press.

I probably worry too much about the media’s representation of the medtech industry. But these two major stories in 2018 set alarm bells ringing. That’s why, as a voice for the sector, it’s important that this magazine works hard to champion the many, many success stories, whilst not choosing to ignore harsh realities, either.

For example, the BBC did run coverage of the STIMO (STimulation Movement Overground) study, the results of which emerged from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne in November. Three men regained their ability to walk without the use of crutches thanks to an electrical stimulation device inserted around the spine helps boost signals from their brain to their legs, and helps damaged nerves in the spinal cord to regrow. What’s more, the team behind the project are now launching a spin-out to scale the technology up.

It’s the nature of scandals that they will make more of an impression with the public than stories like the STIMO one. But, for our part, in 2019 we’ll continue working to get your innovations in the headlines – and not just within the medtech echo chamber, but in the wider world as well.