Medtech Revolution: Latest Trends in Medical Devices in the US and Japan

On June 28, 2019, the Japan Society of Northern California and the US-Asia Technology Management Center at Stanford University hosted the “Medtech Revolution: Latest Trends in Medical Devices in the U.S. and Japan” event at Morgan Lewis. The United States’ healthcare industry is currently valued at $156 billion and Japan’s is at $25 billion. It is also apparent that both countries are experiencing many of the same challenges in terms of providing quality health care to their people. Now more than ever, these two large markets are facing both the potential and dire demand for new, innovative medical technologies to come to fruition and be distributed widely.

This event’s speakers included Hiromi Maeda (Kaneka US), Jonathan Palley (Spire Health), Christopher D. Bright (Morgan Lewis), and Moderator Nancy Yamaguchi (Morgan Lewis/JSNC Board). Hiromi Maeda, Senior Director of the Kaneka US Innovation Center based in the Bay Area, discussed trends in both the U.S. and Japan’s medical device markets. Jonathan Palley, Co-founder/CEO of Spire Health, gave a tangible example of what a medtech device constitutes and has the potential to achieve with a presentation of his company’s remote patient monitoring device for respiratory diseases. Lastly, Christopher D. Bright of Morgan Lewis discussed the patent eligibility and valuation of medtech patents.

While the topics varied greatly from speaker to speaker, it is quite clear that innovative medtech devices will continue to hit the market and vastly improve both the healthcare industry and livelihoods in the U.S., Japan, and beyond.