Key takeaways & insights from 2023 AdvaMed MedTech Conference

As uncertainty continues within the medical technology sector, the 2023 AdvaMed MedTech Conference, the industry’s largest event struck a generally positive note as speakers and attendees considered the transformative current times and how best to navigate challenges and opportunities.

Amidst the lively networking opportunities, dozens of insight-rich sessions offered high-value takeaways based on future-forward thinking. In this context, much of the conference content addressed how leaders can best think about new innovations, particularly the increasingly popular class of glucagon-like peptide (GLP-1) drugs for Type 2 diabetes treatment, and what these mean for approaches to talent.

Below we present several of the most prominent conference takeaways around that theme.

Don’t ignore the trend

Presentations and conversations converged around the need for leaders to take a proactive approach to new innovations like GLP-1. That means integrating these products and their implications into your strategy and leaning in to create opportunity around them—rather than a head-in-the-sand mentality.

GLP-1 specifically is affecting the broader diabetes market on the MedTech side. Leaders need to determine how best to incorporate it, including ways of creating continuity to help supplement the current devices.

Shape strategy and messaging

The first step for leaders is to integrate GLP-1 into both strategy and messaging. For example, one industry leader advocated a perspective that patients and providers need all the tools to help tackle chronic conditions like diabetes. While GLP-1 drugs have been shown to help reduce key factors like blood sugar and weight, they may be insufficient on their own to maximize impact, and work better when used with diabetes-focused devices like insulin pumps. “Healthcare is a team sport,” that same industry leader said.

Another industry leader pointed out that the ultimate impact of GLP-1 remains to be determined. In the end, he suggested, it’s about bringing technologies, products, and data into a comprehensive solution for the patient, parallel to how MEMs technology has found its way into multiple healthcare products in recent decades. Leaders can work to connect the dots as more information becomes available over time, craft strategies that reflect growing understanding of the therapeutic ecosystem, and communicate what’s best for patients across audiences. “It’s all about the patient pathway,” one participant said.

Go back to basics

At the core of strategies for navigating current times overall, not only in relation to GLP-1, is the idea of going back to basics in order to be ready for when the markets kick back up by boosting agility now to increase your business’ ability to adapt to new innovations.

This is particularly relevant for businesses seeking an eventual IPO. Participants noted that there’s a lot of capital on the sidelines, while high inflation and other factors have severely limited prospects for public offerings. Still, speakers highlighted the overall dramatic growth in this space in the past year, and most are bullish on the IPO window opening in 2024.

The organization as a whole should be seeking commercial-model transformation while continuing to be optimistic about the path ahead. As we’ve written about before, that includes thoughtfully balancing growth and execution, and using your mission to promote attraction, engagement, and retention. One participant summed it up as “Keep your head down and focus on building a great business.”

Rev up talent and executive succession planning

Finally, as is always the case, you need the right talent to lead through transformative times like these. Effective leadership is especially important in the face of fast-moving innovations like GLP-1, and getting transitions right is critical.

In this context, the conference included good thinking on CEO succession as a process, consistent with our thinking at Heidrick. An industry leader noted the value of formalizing process; for example, she and the executives below her are proactively developing succession plans, guided in part by her extensive board experience. Development of formal evaluation and training aimed at facilitating succession is also important.

Others talked about the value of “osmotic mentorship,” or observing and working closely with a small circle of top executives, especially people who think you are capable of doing more and will push you to get there. An industry leader described how two people championed him in his first job at a top pharmaceutical company, and their belief in him inspired him to take on challenging assignments that set him up for subsequent success at Stryker.

Structure, too, can play a role in development and succession. That same industry leader pointed that decentralized business units can give their leaders the autonomy and space to grow their capabilities—including critical soft skills—and shape culture.

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Overall, the 2023 AdvaMed MedTech Conference helped participants understand the shifting landscape of this sector and challenges and opportunities within it. While uncertainty marks the current market, there is little doubt that MedTech will surge again, given the need for these offerings and the fast pace of innovation in this space. Executives and organizations that embrace a patient-focused, back-to-basics mentality while boosting their agility to incorporate innovations like GLP-1 will be in a strong position to create large future value.