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By Moshe Gerber, CEO of IR-Med
Biotechnology is a vast field that influences various industries from agriculture, food engineering and clothing to the popular health-tech industry. It’s no wonder that during the past year most biotech stocks behaved relatively steadily in the market when compared to other industries, according to the S&P Biotech index (XBI) and Nasdaq Biotechnology index (NBI). Though we experienced a bear market in almost all sectors in 2022, biotech stocks managed to stay relatively stable, and were even higher than usual at times.
There’s always been a general excitement around technology being used to address issues within the healthcare space. Thus, biotech companies that managed to present hands-on progress in their research and within the laboratory were recognized by investors, which naturally translated to healthier stock trade volumes.
As for 2023, the broad outlook for the biotech space points toward significant business and scientific growth in three key sectors. The main areas to look out for in the year ahead include digital health for an improved patient experience, artificial intelligence (AI), and finding holistic solutions for wound management—which will continue to dominate the industry.
Digital health for an improved patient experience
In the new year, digital health will continue to be increasingly important not just for patients, but for hospitals, home healthcare aids, outpatient facilities and care providers as well. The number of homecare visits in the United States increased following the pandemic as patients were discharged, alongside a large uptick in resources like telehealth and wearable devices. Regardless of a healthcare provider’s experience, data from these home visits can automatically be sent to a central database to store information and track a patient’s history.
From the caregiver’s perspective, automatic processing is the next generation of remote patient monitoring. Technology will have to adapt and create built-in HIPAA compliance and data safety measures to ensure patient privacy. However, it can be challenging to create a technologically innovative product that can adapt to HIPAA and take a digital-first approach.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Artificial intelligence will continue to remain top of mind in the biotech industry as the technology continues to evolve and grow. What also makes AI appealing to investors is the ability to analyze and process data in an accurate and automatic manner that would otherwise take longer and require numerous professional specialists.
These changes in the biotech space are already happening, as radiology is undergoing a revolution by implementing AI to identify cancer in images from CT scans and MRIs instead of only human analyses. It is expediting the process at which radiologists can diagnose cancer in a high-pressure industry. This is not meant to replace biopsies, but to immediately point radiologists to where there is a higher probability of cancer by using data, ultimately doing more with less. AI can also help translate data to show accuracy in reporting and the value that it provides healthcare workers. By working in real time, AI is already helping as a point of care, and healthcare companies that use AI are seeing valuations skyrocket at an unprecedented pace.
Finding Holistic Solutions for Wound Management
Many biotech solutions focus on either diagnoses or treatment, but few provide holistic solutions for management for both patients and healthcare providers. For example, wounds are the number one reason people visit hospitals in the United States, much greater than heart problems or other ailments. It’s likely that biotech companies will be focused on creating a one-stop solution for wound care from detection to management, and the technology aspect will be critical. Through the use of AI technology, accurate detection and classification of wounds can be improved, and the use of a camera would enable taking pictures of wounds and tracking the size and volume of the wounds instantaneously in a database to determine whether they are healing or deteriorating over time.
Developments in technology as one-stop shop solutions are also necessary in order to provide equal treatment to people with various skin tones and bring more equity to the biotech space This is significant to all patients, especially to the elderly population, for example those that suffer from injuries such as pressure injuries or diabetic foot injuries.
Biotechnology, when viewed within the larger tech space, is poised to grow with the potential for new and creative concepts in 2023. Investors have something to look forward to as digital health, AI, and holistic solutions to wound care continue to be hot topics and solutions to current-day issues in healthcare.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
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Image and article originally from www.nasdaq.com. Read the original article here.