The conventional wisdom in the medtech industry is to pursue the “razor-razor blade” business model, as each placement of capital equipment generates a lucrative annuity of recurring revenues from disposables. The corollary to this conventional wisdom is that so-called “big iron” is to be avoided as, in sharp contrast, it suffers from greater early cash requirements and longer sales cycles that create difficulties forecasting quarterly revenues, and provides no annuities. But that view is no longer the only one that counts, Health Advances CEO Mark Speers argues.

Nine $1bn+ alliances were penned in October. Topping the list was a potential $22bn deal between Daiichi Sankyo and Merck for the global development and commercialization of Daiichi’s DXd antibody drug conjugate candidates patritumab deruxtecan, ifinatamab deruxtecan and raludotatug deruxtecan.  

Due to the unprecedented growth in the development of cell and gene therapies over the past decade, there is now high demand for certain workforce roles, especially in highly specialized areas and entry-level manufacturing positions.