WRAL Tech Wire

CED’s Medtech conference to highlight emerging medical device industry in N.C.

CED event to showcase medical technology

On The Web

• Medtech 2009 details

Site Search

Editor’s note: The Council for Entrepreneurial Development’s annual Medtech program, which draws hundreds of people from the region’s life sciences industry, is set for May 14 at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

Greg Davis, chief executive officer of Tryton medical, is co-chair of this year’s program. He talked about the event with Jake Potter of MMI Public Relations in Raleigh for a podcast, MMI provided a transcript to LTW at LTW’s request.

The interview:

CED’s Medtech 2009 is the only conference dedicated to advances in medical technologies in the Southeast, bringing together entrepreneurs, investors, vendors and suppliers to address industry issues. Greg, let me ask you first: The Medtech conference is in its second year. What spurred the desire to have an event focused on advanced medical technologies?

In a state that’s often dominated by biotech and pharma, it really was driven by a need to come together as an industry. There’s a lot of exciting things that are happening across the state in medical technologies, and we identified last year that there would be a lot of folks who would be interested in coming together and talking about that. And so last year at our conference, we had over 350 people attend. The desire was really a homegrown one and one to come together and talk about how we can advance this dynamic and exciting industry across the state.

What makes this region such a growing area for the medtech industry?

Well, I think North Carolina has a lot of the elements that you look for, in terms of rapid growth in medical technologies. First is obviously the world class research-based universities – you’ve got Duke, UNC, Wake Forest and others that are really at the forefront of a lot of technology and driving a lot of innovation. Second of all, you take a look at the biomedical engineering programs that we’ve got at N.C. State and UNC and also at Duke, and these are excellent programs that are producing a lot of very high-quality engineers.

There is real focus by the economic development committees. [Wake County Economic Development], as an example, has done a lot of great things to try to attract and persuade folks to locate medical device companies in this area. In addition, obviously as we all enjoy an exceptionally high quality of life, a very desirable location for many people who want to move to this area.

And finally, some work that’s been done at the state that I have been involved with Sam Taylor and NCBIO – that’s the creation of a new advanced medical technologies Center of Innovation. And in March, we received $2.5 million to start that center, and we are actively looking for a president.

So, there are a lot of key elements that are coming together to really make this a very attractive area for many medical device companies, such as Tryton Medical.

(Note: Tryton Medical relocated to the Triangle area from New England last year.)

What are the benefits of having the Medtech conference?

The benefits are several; primarily, interaction with thought leaders across the industry. The panel of speakers we have put together is absolutely excellent and, I think, rare to find in conferences. All of our speakers come from across the United States; they are thought leaders from California to New York City to Pennsylvania, and they all bring a lot of expertise with them. [Other benefits include] the ability to hear these speakers and learn a lot about their experiences in the medtech industry, the value of networking with other local leaders in medtech companies, and, really, the information that you’re going to derive, whether that’s valuable for you if you have an idea for a medical technology company or whether you have an existing and growing business in medtech.

Who can benefit from attending Medtech 2009?

I’d like to say just about everybody could benefit. You look at the cross-section of people – as we looked at our seminar last year, we got a lot of participation from many different groups. I would start with the engineering students, the medical students, business students. I mean, for $100, to be able to come hear this set of world-class speakers, I think is a great opportunity for folks in that set to learn and augment what they are learning in these great universities.

Researchers and clinicians – people who practice and who are doing research in fundamental areas of medical technologies – are also going to benefit and hear about what happens in early stage. Folks who are involved in the medical industry, and in addition to that, service providers and people who support the medical technology industry [all will benefit] – whether that’s going to be folks who work in prototyping or in sterilization. [Other groups who can benefit include] CROs or legal or accounting services. I would say just about everybody could benefit from this conference.

What can attendees expect at this year’s conference?

First of all, I would just say a lot of great content. We start the day with medical device trends. Mike Weinstein [managing director of healthcare and U.S. equities, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.], who is a leading analyst for the medical device industry, will be talking about what’s happening from a very macro level, and then we will be talking about how to build sustainable business operations in quality with Dana Mead, who is a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

Gregg Stone [professor of medicine at Columbia University] will be talking about clinical trials. Gregg is one of the leading authorities and does a significant number of clinical trials in medical technologies. Dan Lemaitre, who just recently had a successful exit with his company [CoreValve, Inc.], will be talking about how to build a sustainable business in challenging times.

And then in the afternoon, we’ll look at a number of different speakers in terms of growing an established enterprise with Gary Henley [president and CEO, Wright Medical Group, Inc.]. Rick Anderson, who is a venture capital partner with PTV Sciences, will be talking how to commercialize medical technologies from the initial launch to sustainable profitability.

Keynote speaker Bill Hawkins, who is the CEO of Medtronic, which is probably the premier medical device company in the world, will be talking about the evolving medical technology public policy environment and how that’s affecting Medtronic and other companies.

We finish up the day with a panel discussion with all of the speakers, where folks from the audience are able to ask questions and really present what’s on their minds to this great set of speakers. I think it’s going to be a great seminar and great content, and look forward to it.

That sounds pretty exciting – what are you particularly looking forward to?

I’m looking forward to also learning – I have been in this medical device and medical technology industry for 22 years, but these are the caliber of speakers that I intend to be taking notes on and learning along with everyone else. They’ve got just a lot of information to give us that’s going to be of value.

I look forward to interacting with a lot of friends and colleagues and folks I have met along the way as we have continued to build this organization, and also meeting new people as we continue our journey to really become a hotbed for medical devices here in North Carolina.

Biotech & Life Science

The latest biotechnology and life science news. Read more articles…