In this issue

COVID-19 expanded opportunities in remote healthcare unlike we’ve ever seen before, with point-of-care (POC) diagnostics reaping the most benefit. In this issue, we speak to various executives in the POC landscape on how their technologies allow patients, and especially those with chronic conditions, to get better care and understand their medical conditions more effectively.

In another nod to empowering patients, but also helping medical device companies craft better trials, the US Food and Drug Administration also released guidance on how to effectively integrate patient advisors. We speak to experts on how the guidance will push companies to engage with end users, and potential repercussions if sponsors don’t listen to patients.

Elsewhere, we find out how the growing elder population will continue to drive the global medical device market; how the word tendon was the most mentioned orthopaedic term on Twitter in the last few months of 2021; and how “greener” choices in inhalers have earned increasing pharma and device company support. Finally, continuing a discussion from the past issue, we examine how the new UK medical device regulation spells potential trial concerns for some in vitro diagnostic players.

Read on for all this, as well as the latest medical device industry comment, data and analysis from GlobalData.

Jennifer C. Smith-Parker, Editor