Sustaining The Israeli Medtech Model

Article preview from IN VIVO - September, 2012 

An interview with two pioneers of the Israeli device industry, Chaim Lotan and Yuval Binur, who discuss the global changes taking place in medtech financing and technology development and what is being done to enable Israel to remain an innovation hub.

Sustaining The Israeli Medtech Model

Article preview from IN VIVO - September, 2012 

An interview with two pioneers of the Israeli device industry, Chaim Lotan and Yuval Binur, who discuss the global changes taking place in medtech financing and technology development and what is being done to enable Israel to remain an innovation hub.

 Israel has long been an engine of medical device innovation with an impact far beyond its relatively small size as a nation. Much has been written about the reasons behind this start-up success, but those involved in building this growth engine know that, for all the talk about the entrepreneurial nature of the Israeli people, the continued success of this effort cannot be taken for granted. Israel is not immune from the global headwinds that are currently slowing device growth in many other countries, particularly the crisis in venture capital. Indeed, one can argue that Israel may be particularly hard hit by the shallowing of the VC pool since the country has always suffered from a lack of native capital, making it largely dependent on external venture funding.

No one is more aware of how these global forces are affecting the Israeli medtech industry than those who helped build it. Chaim Lotan, MD, and Yuval Binur are two of those architects, and here they share their perspectives on the challenges and opportunities facing Israel’s device industry, Lotan being a noted interventional cardiologist and technology developer, and Binur an experienced venture capitalist, who helped finance perhaps Israel’s leading cardiovascular device start-up success story, the acquisition of aortic valve pioneer Percutaneous Valve Technologies (PVT) by Edwards Lifesciences Corp. This deal became the basis of Edwards’ market-leading TAVI franchise, which has not only helped drive that company’s recent significant growth but also has transformed this clinical area into possibly the next blockbuster device market.

Continued...

Purchase this article online as a PDF and receive it immediately via email. Questions? Call (800) 332-2181. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed.

Plus:

To find out about more about more about Elsevier Business Intelligence's medical device publications and databases, multi-user access and/or advertising with Medical Devices Today, please contact Kristy Kennedy at (480) 985-9512