Draining the Brain

by James Cavuoto, editor

Many in the neurotechnology industry have come to lament some of the new policies that the incoming Trump administration has bestowed upon startups and researchers in the space. Much has made about the funding cuts, staff reductions, travel restrictions on government researchers and other clampdowns that threaten the U.S.’ preeminence in life science fields such as neurotechnology.

But now a new threat has emerged that could exact more serious damage on the delicate ecosystem that has moved neurotech forward in the last two decades. While in the past, the U.S. has benefited tremendously from the contributions of foreign-born investigators, clinicians, and neural engineers—in many cases taking the best and brightest entrepreneurs and researchers from European and Asian countries and bringing them to our shores—in 2025, a reverse brain drain may come to pass.

A recent article in the New York Times reports that European leaders are offering financial help to U.S.-based researchers in an effort to lure prominent investigators away. The EC president recently announced a $566 million initiative to make Europe a “magnet for researchers,” the article said.

But while we lament the injuries to innovation and commercialization visited upon us by the new administration, we can’t help but be optimistic that some good will come from the chaos. Recently, in an interview on Fox News, new FDA commissioner Marty Makary indicated his support for CMS coverage for medical devices approved as breakthrough devices, a proposal that was supposed to take effect several years ago as part of the MCIT program. CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz apparently agrees with Makary and this movement comes on the heels of proposed legislation with bipartisan support from Senators Todd Young and Alex Padilla that would codify many of the aspects of the original MCIT proposal.

The medtech industry was quick to applaud these developments. “This is an excellent development. For both the FDA commissioner and CMS administrator to agree on this principle truly is big news,” AdvaMed president Scott Whitaker posted on LinkedIn. “For far too long, the two agencies have not seen eye to eye on what really is a common-sense idea: There is no reason for a ‘breakthrough’ medical technology FDA has declared safe and effective to go through a ‘duplicative’ review process at CMS in order to be covered by Medicare. Eliminating this duplication is good for patients in need, it is good government, and it is wise stewardship of the taxpayer dollar.”

Still, with razor-thin majorities in both houses of Congress, there’s no guarantee that these proposals will fare any better than the multiple “infrastructure weeks” proposed during the first Trump administration, particularly given some of the vocal deficit hawks in Congress who may not love the idea of widening the looming deficit at CMS.

But considering the wealth of bad news that the federal government has delivered to the healthcare industry, any sliver of hope for some good news is welcome. Hopefully, enough U.S.-based researchers and entrepreneurs will tough it out long enough to reap the benefits of this new development. Or better yet, see the tide turn as wiser figures have their voices heard in Washington.