Innovation
How can we help clinical entrepreneurs to succeed?
It is important for everyone that clinical entrepreneurs are able to succeed and bring new innovations to market. Angie Reynolds, head of Birmingham Research Park, discusses how this innovation can be supported.
Healthcare professionals have frontline proximity to system and patient centred challenges in a way that many traditional MedTech manufacturers don’t. Unsurprisingly, this gives them a unique insight and the potential to develop ideas for how care could be improved – ideas that could be the seedling of a new product or technology. Fortunately, the value these individuals can add is recognised and there are several initiatives designed to help healthcare professionals commercialise their ideas. For example, the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme (NHS CEP), a national initiative launched in 2016, is designed to accelerate the introduction of new ground-breaking treatments by providing support programmes that include mentoring, workshops and events. This enables the testing of innovative ideas alongside existing clinical commitments1
and is
a similar programme to academic initiatives like Medici,2
but tailored for NHS staff. I use the term ‘clinical entrepreneurs’ in this
article to refer to clinicians and healthcare professionals who also spend time working on developing a new product or technology, because it is important to note that not all clinical entrepreneurs are on the official NHS CEP. There are clinicians who develop new products in conjunction with stakeholders in their local ecosystem and others who commercialise ideas entirely independently of the existing entrepreneurial support networks. The clinical entrepreneurs I meet are
energetic and creative people motivated by a passion for improving patient outcomes. They do this first and foremost through their practice, but increasingly by spotting areas for improvement in their surgery or hospital where a modification or innovation could transform care. By blending commercial opportunity, clinical knowledge and NHS experience, they develop and grow MedTech businesses that target specific problems that haven’t previously been addressed. This creates huge value for patients and for the NHS.
Balancing the day job with a newfound
commercial interest is difficult but cross- organisation collaboration can be one way to drive progress while managing clinical commitments. A great example of this is the VITTAL study on the effectiveness of liver perfusion, which involved clinical and academic teams3
and has shown the technique could
save 7 in 10 donor livers that would otherwise be rejected.
Clinical entrepreneurs tell me time and again that the right mix of lab space, industry and academic connectivity and business support is what makes the difference between success and stagnation.
What challenges do they face? Clinical entrepreneurs face several challenges ranging from managing complex commitments through to navigating commercial parts of the NHS and managing expensive R&D-led growth. One of the biggest hurdles involves allocating and prioritising competing commitments. How do they find time to run an R&D intensive start-up while maintaining professional practice, when both are a full-time workload? The answer for many lies in pace – taking
gradual steps towards developing their new product or technology, which may take several years to bring to market. This can involve giving up private practice time or securing funding for time to concentrate on commercial development and is a less risky, more cost- effective growth strategy. For clinical entrepreneurs determined to
take an accelerated path, bringing in individuals that offer complementary skillsets is a way of increasing resource and upskilling themselves. For example, a clinician might recruit a commercial lead, a research scientist or an administrator, to ensure they focus on the areas of the business where they themselves can add the most value. Connectivity into local ecosystems is vital to
attracting this talent and increasing capacity, whether on an employed, grant funded or
June 2023 I
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