Digital Health Sector Slowed Down in 2023

 Although artificial intelligence (AI) applications are increasingly prevalent in the healthcare sector each year, investment in digital health slowed down in Europe in 2023, according to investment firm Karista. In 2023, health tech mostly comprised biotechnology companies (32%), medical devices (24%), and digital health (23%), according to France Biotech.

Consequently, the average amount raised in European funding rounds decreased, reaching an average of 10 million euros compared with 20 million euros in 2022. The largest funding rounds were secured by robotic surgery: CMR Surgical raised 152 million euros; Distalmotion, 138 million euros; and Moon Surgical, 51 million euros.

Pharmaceutical Tech Rising

While funding amounts declined, the number of investors increased by 23%. In all, 217 funds invested in European e-health in 2023 compared with 168 in 2022. European funds are investing in France (24%), the United Kingdom (21.7%), and Germany (18.1%). "The pharmatech sector, driven by the rise of AI in 2023, is also growing, both in terms of investments (20%) and collaborations and acquisitions by the pharmaceutical industry. We observe amounts exceeding 100 million (Aqemia, Owkin for collaborations; Lunaphore, Olink for acquisitions)," noted Karista. Despite a somewhat disappointing year in 2023, Karista also identified 55 major e-health investors that have invested in more than 10 companies.

Uncertain Macroeconomics

In its 2023 report on healthcare technology, FranceBiotech echoed Karista's assessment that 2023 was not the best of the last 3 years for the sector. "Given a more uncertain macroeconomic context in 2023 and refinancing difficulties for some companies, the year saw a higher number of judicial liquidations compared with 2019 and 2020. Thus, 39 companies underwent judicial liquidation, with a net balance of 20 new companies," the company wrote.

Fifteen Thousand Jobs

In 2023, the sector represented a turnover of 1.4 billion euros and more than 15,000 direct jobs. Employment in the sector has increased by 40% over the past 3 years. Despite a challenging context in 2023, three quarters of the companies hired new employees, with an average of six new employees per company. Nevertheless, 11% of companies laid off employees. This rate rose to 17% among digital health companies.

Remote Monitoring

The year 2023 was also marked by the reimbursement of remote monitoring, and remote monitoring solutions were the product category with the highest growth, with an increase of four points compared with 2022 (14%). Computer-assisted diagnostics also represented 14% of products in digital health, followed by telemedicine solutions, data analysis (10%), and care coordination software (9%). In biotechnology, however, "half of the pipeline products focus on three main therapeutic areas: Oncology (25%), infectious diseases (13%), and the CNS (13%)," according to France Biotech. In the field of medical technology, surgery (15%), oncology (10%), and neurology (9%) dominated the market.

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/digital-health-sector-slowed-down-2023-2024a10008ls