Other winners include CergenX, Stryker, Alcon Ireland and the Institute for Clinical Trials.
The Irish Medtech Awards 2025 were held last night (4 December) in Galway to recognise the talent and diversity of this major sector.
US-headquartered West Pharmaceuticals beat other finalists Deciphex and Integer Holdings to be crowned Medtech Company of the Year.
West has a contract manufacturing site and a global financial services office in Dublin. Late last year, the company announced plans to hire 330 new employees as part of an expansion of its manufacturing services for drug treatments, including for chronic diseases such as diabetes and obesity.
“West is a leading provider of innovative solutions and employs 1,000-plus people in Dublin with 330 to be added following a significant expansion to achieve its mission of delivering critical treatment to patients,” said Dr Eoghan Ó Faoláin, director of Irish Medtech.
“The GLP-1 market (drugs for diabetes and weight loss such as Ozempic) is expected to grow by over $400bn within the next five years and the Dublin facility is now well placed to play its part in this amazing global opportunity, providing significant opportunities to the Dublin region and Irish economy in general.”
Heading west then, Galway-based Palliare won Emerging Medtech Company of the Year, beating finalists ICS Medical Devices and Phyxiom to the award. Palliare was founded in 2018 as a spin-out from Irish gastro-diagnostic company Crospon, which was acquired by Medtronic in 2017. It develops devices to enhance the safety of laparoscopic and endoscopic procedures.
“Ireland’s global medtech hub is bolstered by dynamic start-ups,” said Cepta Duffy, head of life science and health-tech at Enterprise Ireland.
“Palliare is the third start-up from John and Caroline O’Dea, based in Galway, Ireland and California in the US, with turnover doubling annually since 2022 thanks to its success as a leading technology provider in areas such as surgical smoke evacuation during endoscopic surgery.
The winner of this year’s Collaboration in Medtech award went to the Institute for Clinical Trials at the University of Galway.
The institute was set up in 2023 to ensure the latest clinical research and medicines are available to patients in Ireland.
“A unique strength of Ireland’s medtech ecosystem is our ability to collaborate,” said John Nugent, department manager, Medical Technologies and Healthcare Services, IDA Ireland.
He described the institute as “a clinical gateway for medtech and digital health that is helping to transform how early-stage medtech trials are delivered in Ireland and offering insights into need-driven research to improve global health outcomes”.
Adjunct professor at the institute, John Kilmartin, a medtech veteran, is excited about Ireland’s progress on clinical trials. “I’ve probably seen more progress on the opportunity for medtech clinical trials in the last year, year and a half, than I had seen in the previous 15 years,” Kilmartin told SiliconRepublic.com earlier this year.
The Digital Health Innovation of the Year award went to CergenX, the University College Cork spin-out. The other finalists were Amara Therapeutics, Coroflo and Diagnexia.
CergenX, which specialises in AI solutions for neonatal brain monitoring, received the Breakthrough Device Designation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its Wave device earlier this year.
Digital health innovation was described as “an increasingly important segment” of Ireland’s medtech sector by the Irish Medtech Awards.
“This year’s winner CergenX is at the forefront of neonatal neurotechnology, leveraging AI to improve outcomes for newborns worldwide thanks to its flagship device, Wave which enables the early detection of brain injury.
“This scalable cloud platform supports multi-signal processing and the development of new diagnostic tools paving the way for expansion into wider digital health applications.”
The special award for Outstanding Contribution to Medtech Award went to Tom Kelly, who, according to Ó Faoláin, “exemplifies the spirit of this award”.
“As the Enterprise Ireland divisional manager for industrial and life sciences, he led pioneering initiatives, collaborative partnerships and tirelessly worked to advance Ireland’s medtech sector and strengthen our global reputation.”
Other award winners include Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Ireland for Sustainable Medtech Company of the Year; Alcon Ireland for Best Process-Product Innovation in Medtech; West Pharmaceutical Services for Medtech Partner/Supplier of the Year; and Stryker for Best Talent Strategy in Medtech.
Irish Medtech, the Ibec group that represents the medtech sector, Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland held the awards as part of Medtech Rising, an annual conference for the sector held this year at The Galmont Hotel in Galway.
Freudenberg Medical, a global contract design and manufacturing partner to the medical device and biopharma industry, was crowned Medtech Company of the Year in 2024.
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