Associations call for industrial policy support for the medical technology sector

Recommendations for action for politicians

“Medical technology must and wants to be powerful, there has been no doubt about that at least since the recent pandemic experience. With our vision for 2025, we are not only providing politicians with the necessary recommendations for action regarding reform, we are also making an urgent, cross-association appeal for joint action to be taken in the coming legislature,” emphasize the three associations.

Implement structural reforms

The trade associations show a total of five fields of action along the value chain for an innovative, economically healthy and internationally competitive German medical technology industry in 2025 and beyond. This requires coordinated industrial policy support for the sector in order to tackle structural reforms: Separate departmental responsibilities for health, research and business have so far prevented an overall political strategy for medical technology. Your complex concerns in the areas of research and development, regulation, production and market access are all too often overlooked.

Promote dialogue, digitization and research

In addition to a strategic medtech dialogue involving the three Federal Ministries of Economics, Research and Health, the associations also propose a digital inventory platform for supply-critical medical products, better funding for clinical studies and access for companies to health research data. “Research and production must continue to be possible for medium-sized medical technology companies in Germany. To do this, we have to strengthen the production and supply chains and develop smart solutions involving the medtech industry," says BVMed Managing Director Dr. Marc Pierre Moell.

Better use of digital health data

The associations see particular potential in digitization: "The digital possibilities in medical technology must also be more closely integrated into the German healthcare industry," says Hans-Peter Bursig, ZVEI specialist association manager for electromedical technology. "We have to create the conditions for a health data space, ensure integration into the European Health Data Space and thus achieve legally secure access to this data for industry as well." Anonymized health data for commercial research, development and innovations played an increasingly important role Role.

Regulatory requirements must not weaken the location

The associations also see that manufacturing processes and market access in the EU for medical technology are becoming more and more complex due to increasing regulatory requirements: "The medical technology industry has been struggling with an increasing flood of regulations for years, not least due to the Medical Device Regulation (MDR ), whose additional bureaucracy does not always contribute to additional patient safety. This trend must be countered with the political will to measure each new regulation by its effects on the competitiveness and innovative ability of our high-tech industry," emphasizes Dr. Martin Leonhard, Chairman of Medical Technology in the German industry association Spectaris. The aim must be to permanently strengthen Germany as a location for the medical technology industry. The presentation of the target image is the prelude to a political discourse that will be continued and intensified in the next legislative period.

On the medical technology target for 2025:  www.zvei.org/gesundheit

Source: Notification from medizin&technik from 09.06.2021