October 16, 2023

PiVOT attends DLSU-IBEHT Technology Commercialization Forum to accelerate the deployment of locally-developed healthcare technologies

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(From L-R: PiVOT’s Clinical Data Associate, Patrick Vergara; Business Development Associate, Irene Rivera; Regulatory Affairs & Pharmacovigilance Associate, Kelvin Cometa)

PiVOT was invited to the De La Salle University Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Health Technologies (DLSU-IBEHT) Technology Commercialization Forum: Making Locally-developed Health Technologies Available, Accessible, and Affordable to Filipinos. The forum aimed to translate research knowledge and laboratory prototypes into marketable products.

The face-to-face event was held last October 12, 2023, Thursday at The Verdure, 4/F Henry Sy Sr. Hall, De La Salle University-Manila, from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm.

Healthcare is a crucial pillar of the Philippines’ prosperity, and the government is committed to this vital sector. To further its mission of enhancing the well-being of Filipinos, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has been providing funds to research institutions like IBEHT to support the development of affordable, accessible, and quality S&T-based solutions and innovations.

In line with this pursuit, the forum invited multiple stakeholders, including those from research institutions, healthcare experts, patient support groups, industry leaders, and government agencies. The goal was to exchange views, opinions, and insights on strategies that can accelerate the deployment of locally developed healthcare technologies in the country.

PiVOT was proudly represented by our Clinical Data Associate Patrick Vergara, Regulatory Affairs & Pharmacovigilance Associate Kelvin Cometa, and Business Development Associate Irene Rivera. 

According to the team, several organizations discussed their struggles at the forum. Participants, who were mainly engineers, developed assistive devices for stroke patients, patients with mobility issues, and an AI device for patients with depression. The challenge for these engineers is how to commercialize their in-house or locally developed devices since they don’t have business and medical backgrounds.

The morning agenda was for these organizations to introduce their current projects and discuss their hurdles as a group. They were then met with a group of reactors from the business and medical side. A nun from the Home for the Elderly also gave her comments on these assistive devices.

In the afternoon, all participants were divided into small groups for a round table discussion. The PiVOT team discussed their role in helping through regulations and clinical trials for these devices, which are locally made and have no current studies to support them. PiVOT can also offer to work with them to find potential principal investigators to run the trials.

For the PiVOT team, the event was insightful as the different sectors within the medical device sphere were able to discuss and identify the gaps that hinder bringing Filipino-developed medical devices to the market. The discussion helped them realize that even though they came from different backgrounds, they had identified similar obstacles in establishing clearer guidelines in regulatory affairs.