Leading UK innovation experts have outlined a new roadmap for how the country can help develop groundbreaking treatments for brain disorders through technology.
KTN is calling for a number of million of pounds to be invested into the neuro technology sector to make the UK a world leader in this industry.
Those at the company have spent the last two years developing the roadmap which aims to see innovative ideas and devices brought to the market to help alleviate symptoms of conditions like Parkinson’s, stroke, depression and brain injury.
Through the use of both pharmaceutical giants and start ups, the plan is aiming to accelerate new technologies to the market and scale them up to make them readily available.
Dr Charlie Winkworth-Smith, leader of the Neurotechnology Innovation Network at KTN, spoke about why the country needs a future plan for this industry.
“We are already one of the world leaders academically and there are some world leading companies here,” he said. “But if we don’t do more to support the sector, we will get left behind.
“The opportunities for neuro technology are just enormous. It can create new therapies and treatments for a whole range of diseases, particularly chronic disease, which cost the NHS a huge amount.
“We started looking at neuro tech about two and a half years ago and we identified that the UK really had some excellent academics and there’s some really interesting startups.
“However, there was no real community. There were lots of people doing excellent things, but no one was connected.
“So we’ve been getting feedback from everyone about what it would really take to make the UK world leading in neuro technology.
“That’s really what the roadmap is. It’s the culmination of all those meetings that we’ve had with the community. So it’s what the community as a whole says.”
In terms of the investment, this needs to come from multiple sources according to KTN.
Government financing is the cornerstone of this, with money going to train new PhD students and technician apprentices vital to keeping the progress in the industry going.
But further down the line there also needs to be investment from venture capital as this is what will help products get to the market quicker.
That is one of the duties KTN is performing now by showing these companies the potential opportunities that are available in the neuro tech industry.
The combination of the two is where the real impact can come. Governments play a massive part in the regulation of these new technologies, particularly those that use invasive methods.
These regulatory methods often mean the process of research and development can take a long time, slowing down the commercialisation side.
Dr Winkworth-Smith spoke more about what changes need to be made to speed up this practice, looking more at the non-financial side.
“One of the difficulties with neuro technology and med tech in general is that the development process takes a long time because of all of the clinical trials and regulatory pathways that you’ve got to go through.
“The time frame for investors is often just too long and too risky, so by getting that government support at an early stage, you’re derisking it for investors.
“Yes, we do need to fund the science and the engineering but we also need to have support on new regulatory pathways.”
Ethics also plays a big part in what KTN are looking to guide companies on.
When it comes to these invasive treatments for the brain this can play a huge part and is something that needs considered when new products are in development.
All of this will help the UK strengthen its stance in the neuro technology sector, something other countries have been doing for a number of years now.
For example the US recently introduced US$1.8 billion to advance its neuroscience research, while China also recently committed to this with smaller nations like Israel already being a trailblazer of health tech in general.
However this does not mean the UK can’t compete with these giants.
“Part of neuro technology is a young sector,” Dr Winkworth-Smith said. “But aspects of the technology have actually been around for 30 or 40 years.
“A lot of these are produced by big American firms but there are UK companies that are beginning to get into this space.
“Places like the US probably have an advantage over us because they’ve got a lot of medical device manufacturing there, but neuro tech is a different type of device that’s needed.
“At the moment, apart from a couple of big companies around the world, there’s no place where small SMEs can go and get support and advice and have manufacturing facilities to scale that up.
“So if the UK were able to implement that, it would catapult us right to the top and that’s why creating a joined up ecosystem is so important.”
