Social Distancing with… Emilio Sanz, CEO and Co-founder of Acurable

Next up in a series of quick-fire client interviews held during lockdown, Jeffreys Henry LLP speaks to Emilio Sanz, CEO and Co-founder of Acurable, a London-based medical devices company.

Acurable is known for the AcuPebble sensor, the first wearable medical device to accurately diagnose and manage respiratory conditions at home.

Emilio speaks to us about how healthcare companies are adapting to the new normal, shares his advice for others in the industry and gives us an insight into the future of Acurable and medical technology.

Hosted by Jeffreys Henry LLP and interviewed by Nikhita Sagar. Published July 2020.

HOW HAS YOUR WEARABLE MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY COMPANY BEEN AFFECTED BY COVID-19?

We work with respiratory units in hospitals, which have been severely affected by COVID-19. Since March 2020, they have stopped all non-essential activity in order to make space for COVID-19 patients. This meant our commercial discussions and clinical trials had to be paused for 6 months.

At the same time, COVID-19 has increased the need for our first product, a wearable medical device for the automated diagnosis of sleep apnoea at home. Currently, sleep apnoea patients need to visit a hospital to be diagnosed. With COVID-19, remote testing of patients has become important to minimise the risk of contagion. Our wearable medical device is ideally positioned to enable remote testing, which should be a benefit over the next 1-2 years.

THE GOVERNMENT’S BUSINESS SUPPORT SCHEMES HAVE BEEN CRUCIAL IN HELPING BUSINESSES STAY AFLOAT. DO YOU THINK BUSINESSES IN YOUR SECTOR WILL BEGIN TO STRUGGLE ONCE THESE COME TO A HALT?

In healthcare some companies with products linked to the diagnosis or treatment of COVID-19 are benefiting from the situation. The same is happening for companies enabling remote diagnosis and monitoring of patients. But for many incumbents, their traditional businesses have been disrupted. Most non-essential activity in secondary care was halted for the last few months. This is now resuming, but many companies rely on having large sales forces, and physical meetings with healthcare professionals to conduct business.

They are now trying to adapt to the new normal, but it will take time. When the government support schemes stop, I think we will see some restructuring taking place at these incumbents to adapt to the new reality.

HOW DO YOU THINK COMING OUT OF THIS TIME WILL HAVE AN IMPACT ON INVESTMENT INTO THE MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY?

Over the last 5-10 years we have seen an increase in investment in healthcare technologies. I believe this trend will continue as the current crisis is accelerating the speed of adoption of new healthcare technologies, especially those facilitating remote diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of conditions.

WHAT WOULD OUR ADVICE BE TO OTHER OPERATORS IN YOUR INDUSTRY IN HOW TO HANDLE THE COMING YEARS?

My advice would be, do not wait to see what happens in the next few months. Try to identify the worst case scenario for your business and plan for it, but keep moving forward. There is a lot of uncertainty about what will happen, but businesses must embrace the new normal and adapt.

WHERE DO YOU SEE THE FUTURE OF THE MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY IN THE NEXT 5-10 YEARS?

There is a lot of innovation happening in medical devices. I believe in 10 years a new generation of medical devices will enable people to start managing their own health at home. We will all have a set of smart medical devices at home that help us monitor our health, and decide what to do in each case. This will help us triage patients better, and send those who really need it to secondary care.

At Acurable, we are working to achieve this vision for respiratory conditions such as sleep apnoea, COPD and Asthma.

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