By Sara Miller, NoCamels -
The future for medical technology in Israel is a bright one and artificial intelligence will play a major role in it, according to veteran medtech entrepreneur and industry insider Eran Lerer.
“The advancement in AI and GenerativeAI increased the chances of creating new and innovative ideas that weren’t available in the past,” Lerer tells NoCamels.
“All of a sudden, every company went up a notch,” he says, regarding the innovative potential of the technology.
“Now let’s create something that you couldn’t create in the past.”
Indeed, the Israeli high-tech ecosystem has embraced the possibilities that AI brings. A recent report by the government shows that Israel, with its population of just 9.5 million, is ranked in the top 10 in the world for AI development, along with such countries as the US, UK and China.
There are 2,200 AI-based companies in Israel, Jerusalem says, and many of them are in healthcare.
Lerer is the managing partner of medtech fund Shoni Health Ventures, which focuses on early-stage digital health and medical device startups. And he cites two medtech companies in the fund’s portfolio that use AI as the basis of their innovation.
The first is FeelBetter, which uses AI to review a patient’s medical records and their complex medication regimen to determine whether they are on the right courses of treatment in order to improve their preventative care.
The AI can detect which of the patients are on the verge of serious deterioration and hospitalization that could be prevented by a change in medication alone.
“It’s an intervention that is very easy and actionable,” he explains. “And it’s working, which is amazing to see.”
The second is QuantHealth, whose “really unique” algorithm uses big data to maximize the chances of success for studies of new medications.
The AI adapts the parameters for clinical trials, such as age, dosing and dosage, and runs simulations of those new boundaries to identify the factors that would most improve the possibilities of a positive outcome.
“Millions of dollars are spent on clinical studies, and 50 percent of them fail,” Lerer says. “Now a pharma company could run the clinical study before it starts, on the computer.”
Lerer himself has had a finger on the pulse of the medtech sector for decades, while Shoni has close ties with Sheba Medical Center, the largest hospital in the entire Middle East and ranked as one of the top 10 hospitals in the world.
The fund even has a base at the ARC Center, Sheba’s on-site innovation hub, which grants it an insight into the demands and needs of the medical profession.
“[It’s] a strategic collaboration with Sheba,” Lerer says. “My office is within the hospital right to really create a real impact and understand the field well, to see what would move the needle.”
He says clinicians at Sheba also often approach him “consult and brainstorm” on their own nascent ideas for medical innovation, which aside from encouraging innovation by experts in their field, also helps him to understand the unmet needs in the sector and whether they are commercially viable.
And ideas from inside the profession are just one avenue for medtech innovation, Lerer says, explaining that the sector has been inspired by other areas of the high-tech ecosystem, such as defense.
He gives as an example the world-famous camera pill created by Israeli company Given Imaging, that aids in the diagnosis of gastrointestinal disease. The tiny camera, he explains, was originally developed as a military tool, but was adapted as a medtech that is swallowed in order to visualize the esophagus, colon and areas of the small intestine without an invasive procedure.
Even the present war with Hamas in Gaza, with all its terrible implications, will likely be a breeding ground for innovation, according to Lerer.
“Taking technologies and ideas that might have originated in the army and now transitioning those to healthcare is something that I would expect to happen,” he says.
“There are people coming back from the army all of a sudden thinking about creative ideas, meeting new co-founders, interacting with people that they’ve never interacted with.”
There are more than 1,600 healthcare companies in Israel today, Lerer points out, and it is the number one sector in terms of startups. (He does qualify that this does not mean it draws the most investment, as that top spot goes to cybersecurity.)
“I think there’s a bright future for healthcare in general in Israel,” he says, adding that Israeli medtech companies are raising money both domestically and internationally, and drawing in global clients.
“Even though the current situation is not is not easy, we will overcome – like we’ve done in the past.”
