Successful first edition of Lygature LIVE

Introduction
Jorg Janssen (Managing Director Lygature) opened the event by underlining the necessity of partnerships for finding new solutions for patients, one of the key beliefs of Lygature.

The moderator of the panel, Jon de Vlieger (Strategy Director Lygature), stated that the Life Sciences age is in full swing. Over the past ten years we have seen medtech and pharma accelerating – finding a sweet spot for medical innovations for patients and increasing collaboration. However, new external factors such as climate change, human capital challenges, and health equity demand continued pioneering. Four renowned speakers addressed the ‘clash of challenges’ from their perspective.

Meta Roestenberg
The first speaker was Meta Roestenberg (professor in Vaccinology LUMC). In her talk she focused on global health inequity. The COVID-19 crisis has showed us that we can accomplish major achievements in vaccine developments in a short time, but access to these vaccines is highly unequally distributed around the world, with Africa having almost no access. Meta argued that a business model for global health needs to be defined. How do we move from an economic-driven model to a society-driven model?

Paul Korte
The next speaker was Paul Korte (director External Relations Janssen). Paul outlined how we could improve the way we are developing drugs as R&D return on investment has been declining. This means that the way we develop drugs today is not sustainable in the long term. We need to involve regulators and we need a roadmap for bringing new technologies to maturity and monitoring whether they are fit for purpose. The pandemic has shown us that Europe is vulnerable. Regarding life sciences we’re lagging behind in creating value in Europe. We need to be more resilient and the key to this is collaboration and working as a team with multiple stakeholders.

Wiro Niessen
The third speaker was Wiro Niessen (professor at ErasmusMC, founder of Quantib, CTO Health-RI). He focused on how we can learn and model better with data. Wiro showed that developments in the data field have been significant in the past years. Data quality, technological innovations and the use of AI have been instrumental in getting better results. However, it remains key to converge fields in order to advance. Collaboration can lead to improved patient outcomes faster.

Maroeska Rovers
The last speaker of the session was Maroeska Rovers (Professor at RadboudUMC, Director TechMed Centre UT, director HI-NL). Maroeska gave an insight on the challenges and opportunities in MedTech in the Netherlands, Europe and globally in the coming years. The key challenges for the Netherlands are staffing, lack of MedTech funding in the 'Integraal Zorgakkoord' and uncertainty about requirements for innovations. At a European level, the main challenge is that the US is pulling ahead in terms of new medical innovation and investments in Europe are declining. On a global level climate change cannot be ignored, it is increasing the cost of healthcare and has a direct impact on our health. We have to take this into account when developing new devices. The Netherlands has a big advantage when it comes to opportunities: it is the top EU country in terms of collaboration, and we should make the most out of it.

Panel Discussion
The inspiring talks of the speakers led to a lively discussion during the panel discussion with all speakers and the audience that followed afterwards. Main points from the discussion, moderated by Jon de Vlieger, were:

• The ‘clash of challenges'. It’s not easy for innovations to be safe, GDPR-proof, data-driven, sustainable, etc – all at the same time. A solution on one side often causes trouble on a different side. It’s important to predict potential impact on different areas for an innovation by involving relevant stakeholders.
• Dealing with differences between regulations around the world is a challenge for innovators, FDA has different requirements compared to the EMA, which may hamper the medtech innovation in Europe.
• For global health and neglected diseases, we need change at a societal level. To fix the failing business models in global health, we first need to fix the market failures.
• There’s a lot we can learn from COVID-19. We saw how the whole world mobilized across different sectors. With this experience, we should be able to progress more steadily. Unfortunately, it’s often in our nature as humans to quickly forget. To capture these critical learnings, we need collective intelligence.
• To expedite progress, we need to consider other mechanisms. For instance, when it comes to clinical trials, can we integrate the principles of continuous learning and working together with patients to adapt and improve?
• AI is important when it comes to continuous learning. You make small changes to the product, fail fast, incorporate feedback/results quickly and keep improving the product.
• When it comes to environmental sustainability in healthcare, we need global alignment at all levels, from regulators to policymakers and funders, as well as all stakeholders in the field.

After the panel discussion, Jorg Janssen closed the session and thanked all participants for their contributions. The event then continued with a walking dinner which allowed for further discussion of the topics and networking opportunities. We are looking back on a great first edition of Lygature LIVE and hope to welcome you during future Lygature events!