As the UK MedTech community prepares to make its way to Birmingham for Med-Tech Expo 2026 this week, we take a look back at last year’s winner of our PITCH competition, in partnership with NIHR (National Institute for Health and Care Research).
Just one week after being crowned the 2025 PITCH Winner, Richard Williams sat down with Editor Oliver Johnson to discuss the future of Healome Therapeutics and the reality of scaling an eyecare startup.
Healome is addressing a critical unmet need: the immense burden of treatment for ocular surface diseases. For many patients, current options require near-constant application just to maintain independence.
In this featured interview:
- The Innovation: How Healome’s platform technology creates a protective microenvironment to improve patient compliance.
- The Momentum: Moving from the PITCH stage straight into closing an investment round.
- The Partnership: The role of the NIHR in supporting the research that made this spin-out possible.
- Founder Advice: Why Rich believes you should “never just make one deck” and the importance of refining your message for every audience.
As we prepare for Med-Tech Expo 2025 on June 3-4 in Birmingham, this interview serves as a reminder of the incredible innovation happening within our ecosystem.
The 2026 PITCH competition takes place at 13:30 on the Insights Stage, on June 4th, day 2 of Med-Tech Expo.
Join us for FREE to see the next generation of innovators: https://med-techexpo.com/index/registration
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