Ireland now a world leader in medtech

A globally recognised centre of excellence in medical technology, or medtech, Ireland is home to more than 300 companies, employing 25,000 people.

Home to 13 of the world's top 15 medtech companies, Ireland employs the highest number of medtech personnel per capita in Europe and is second second only to Switzerland as the largest per capita exporter of medtech products in Europe, a trade valued at €12.6 billion annually.

On the life sciences side, which includes collaborative clusters in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices and diagnostics, Ireland has also reached global significance.

Nine of the world’s top 10 pharmaceutical companies are located here, helping to make Ireland the seventh largest exporter of medicinal and pharmaceutical products in the world.

Overseas multinationals

But while much of this top line activity is attributable to overseas multinationals based here, the indigenous sector is giving rise to some of the most exciting, and pioneering, developments taking place in these sectors.

A look at the investment portfolio of Irish-based life sciences venture capital fund Fountain Healthcare Partners confirms this. Start-ups that have caught its attention include Genable Technologies, a university spin out that makes gene-based drugs for genetic diseases, including one which can lead to blindness.

Spun out of Trinity College Dublin in 2003, it was sold in March of this year to US gene therapy giant Spark Therapeutics, for €5.4 million.

It has an interest too in Opsona Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the treatment of autoimmune or inflammatory diseases and cancers led by TCD's Prof Luke O'Neill – described by a VC investor as a "biotech rockstar".

“This is a very vibrant sector, with a lot of innovative companies coming through from the university system,” says Helen McBreen, investment director at Atlantic Bridge, another VC.

"Stand outs" are those that have used funding from such public bodies as Science Foundation Ireland to do more clinical validation, reducing risk for investors. "There are lots of interesting ones that have completed validation points and have engaged with industry, and which are more attractive as a result," says McBreen.

She recently attended the Innovation in MedTech conference in Dublin and was impressed by the calibre of Irish companies presenting.

“What was particularly interesting was to see the crossover of computer science with biology. We’re seeing a lot of crossdisciplinary companies emerge, including ones that are applying artificial intelligence methodology to interpret very large datasets. Accessing large datasets should enable us to achieve better outcomes and more affordable healthcare,” she says.

X-ray microscope

Among the Irish start-ups presenting at Innovation in MedTech Dublin was Sirius XT, a UCD spin-out.

Its benchtop soft X-ray microscope, the first of its kind in the world, takes a powerful laser to make a little fireball as hot as the centre of the sun but just a 10th of the width of a human hair in diameter.

This fireball produces a kind of light that allows the team to illuminate single cells or tissue samples and produce 3D images that reveal, in unprecedented detail, the inner workings of life, drugs and disease on a cellular scale.

Equally pioneering is the work of its UCD stablemate Oncomark which has developed a diagnostic test for breast cancer that could help doctors better assess a patient’s need for chemotherapy.

With an estimated 1.7 million new cases of breast cancer diagnosed each year worldwide, the commercial potential is significant, while the science behind the test has applications for other cancers too.

Such advances could have a significant impact on healthcare for generations to come.

“Ultimately we’re talking about personalised treatments for all, that’s the endgame,” says McBreen.