Industry & Innovators

We have over eight years of experience in evaluating diagnostics and medical devices, having developed a range of customised tools and approaches using a human-centred approach. We co-founded the MedCity Diagnostic Growth Hub, enabling access to an extensive network of scientists, clinicians and research infrastructure across London.

We establish stakeholder needs, map out clinical pathways and processes, and quantify the impact using health economics. We have a dedicated Patient and Public Involvement/Engagement (PPIE) team, and all our research is done in real world settings i.e. where clinicians, NHS staff and patients interact in diverse settings including primary, secondary and community health care.

We recommend innovators to come to us as early as possible so that we can help shape the development and design that optimise context of use and subsequent value to the health service. This then enables smoother commercialisation and improves adoption and implementation. We cost our support based on the research elements required (i.e. work packages.) based on the product, the evidence gaps and needs. We normally co-apply for a research grant application with innovators but we do consider other funding models.

We assess the feasibility and effectiveness of new diagnostics and health technologies, enabling innovators to take their product to market. Using a variety of studies and research methods we produce the evidence for innovators to accelerate their product development, sales cycle and growth.

Through our extensive clinical networks and access to world-leading hospitals, we help innovators understand and engage the most valuable people to work with to produce modelled and real-world evidence and evaluations. Our team specialises in defining new ways to collect research and undertake evaluations of new diagnostic devices, health technologies and digital solutions before they are used in real life scenarios.

We undertake the following research:

Clinical studies: Clinical studies are used to determine the safety and effectiveness of new devices and technologies in treating conditions. We support the rapid clinical evaluation of medical technologies through the design and delivery of robust clinical trials, providing access to patients and samples. Our approach includes the development of biomarker-associated interventions and randomised controlled trials.

Human factors: A human factors study explores how people interact with and experience new devices within a clincial pathway. Our experienced qualitative researchers identify key stakeholders, such as clinicians, nurses, patients, carers and NHS procurement managers, then conduct semi structured interviews and analyse the results. It involves psychology-based analyses as well as hands-on usability testing.

Health economics: We produce health economic evaluations for in vitro diagnostics (IVDs) and health technologies at all stages of development. Evaluations focus on identifying the optimal placement for a new technology within existing care pathways and describe the health and cost effectiveness of introducing a new device. Early-stage evaluations identify key drivers for cost-effectiveness and areas of uncertainty to focus future research efforts on. Later stage economic evaluations, conducted when evidence on clinical validity and clinical utility becomes available, can be used to inform commissioning or adoption decisions based on the impact on patients and the NHS.

Patient and public engagement: We support innovators looking to produce solutions for any care setting or pathway. In doing so we recognise the value of bringing together people of all ages and backgrounds with experience of the health and care system. Through patient and public engagement, we bring patients, service users, carers, and community members together from a range of groups to inform our studies.

Laboratory validation: Using laboratory validation techniques, we help innovators develop the evidence to demonstrate that a test is both analytically and clinically valid. Analytical validity refers to how well a test performs in detecting or measuring the presence of a given chemical compound, hormone, or genetic marker in a given sample. Clinical validity refers to how accurately a test predicts the presence of, or risk for, a given condition.

Data science:  By applying advanced analytics techniques and scientific principles to large, and sometimes unstructured, data sets London IVD is able to help innovators extract valuable information for product development, business decision-making, and strategic planning.

Adoption: We support the adoption of new solutions through the commercialisation and dissemination of technology. We can help with event management for workshops and meetings with external partners to discuss new opportunities, the dissemination of research and results, and advice on market access and adoption.