Tricuspid valve regurgitation has lagged mitral regurgitation where device development is concerned, but new one-year data from the TRILUMINATE study of the Triclip device suggests that device therapy is safe and cuts down on regurgitation in a manner that makes the condition much more tolerable for patients. At this point, however, the data do not yet offer much difference when it comes to mortality and rehospitalization compared to medical management, a gap Abbott will have to overcome if it wants to maximize its investment in this underdeveloped area of medical technology.

The fundraising environment for startups in med tech is expected to continue to be challenging for at least another year as public markets remain closed and private investors favor companies that have already de-risked their products. One of the major issues in the U.K. and Europe is that the IPO markets are “pretty much shut” and “our public markets aren’t working”, therefore companies are having to rely on private funding, with venture capital being one of those sources, said Robert Tansley, partner, at venture capital fund Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC).

As companies increasingly use artificial intelligence (AI) in medical devices and applications to help treat and diagnose patients, innovators must be careful of excluding large sections of the population in their algorithms and in their data gathering process, delegates heard at the Medtech Futures conference in Cambridge, U.K.