Milepoint Leap is a hands-on commercial development program for early-stage life sciences companies. During a 3-month sprint you will work with an experienced strategy team to validate your technology concept and build a business case for investors, industry partners and programs, such as EIC, EIT Health, or other grants.
Who is it for?
The program is open to all companies developing novel life sciences products, including medtech, biotech, diagnostics, and SaaMD / DTx solutions that have raised no more than EUR 1M in dilutive/non-dilutive financing at the start of the program.
It is recommended to apply for the program at Technology Readiness Levels 2-4, before the commencement of any clinical trials.
How will we benefit?
Most novel technologies find it challenging to reach patients because they do not engage with relevant stakeholders and test their market fit and potential early enough.
Milepoint Leap helps companies in addressing critical commercial and strategic questions at an early stage to make sure that you are ready for any questions that will drive the decision process of your future investors and partners.
During the program you will partner with a Milepoint advisor experienced in the development of new life sciences technologies and a team of analysts that will work with you for 3 months to:
- Translate your technology into a target product value profile (TPVP) – an aspirational description of what you are aiming for that can be tested with experts
- Engage with leading KOLs in your field to understand current patient journey and unmet needs, and get first reactions to your TPVP
- Build a market opportunity model for your country, as well USA and UK to enable you to show the size of the market that you are targeting
- Identify key competitors on the market and in development and build case studies that will give you insights into other companies’ pathway to patient
- Assess market access and pricing potential based on analogue products and verify currently available codes in the US market (if relevant)
You should be ready to dedicate about 8 hours during the initial 2 weeks of the program to provide input for your Milepoint team, followed by a time commitment of about 2 hours per week for progress discussions for the rest of the program.
How will you select program participants?
During the upcoming Annual Milepoint Leap contest 1 program participation will be offered for free to a company that demonstrates:
- A clear, novel, and ambitious technology concept
- Early evidence of high unmet patient need (e.g., based on literature)
- Orientation towards social impact (e.g., focus on underserved populations, rare diseases, use in pediatric patients, etc.)
The participant will be selected by a panel of experts that will include Milepoint leadership, independent strategy advisors, and invited representatives of Technology Transfer Offices at leading technical universities.
Additionally, all companies are welcome to transfer their application to a non-profit Milepoint Leap program offered at preferential conditions compared to the market.
What if we have already covered some of these activities?
We know that you may have already started or conducted some of the studies that are included in the program and we have planned for some flexibility. If your needs require some customization, feel free to include clear comments about how you would like to modify the program in your application. We can explore adjustments together if they can fit the allocated time budget.
Please, remember that the program has been designed to answer the common needs of all early-stage companies and if you are seeing that many or substantial modifications would be needed for you to make a true leap, then you may be ready for one of our other formats. In that case, send just send us an email!
What is the timeline?
The program will have three phases:
- Before September 30th – submit your application by filling an online form available at milepointhealth.com; the form will take about 5-10 minutes to fill and is the only acceptable application – to ensure equal treatment, we will not accept any presentations or additional materials sent via any other channel
- Before October 15th – 5 finalists will be announced and invited to present their company to the selection panel
- October 30th – the winner will be announced
- Before March 30th – end of the Milepoint Leap program (timeline flexibility added to accommodate internal company timelines and other commitments)
After the completion of the program the company will benefit from regular catch ups with their Milepoint team for 9 months (until the end of 2024) to get help with any follow up questions, implementation, and socialization of findings with investors and partners.
Where can I learn more about Milepoint?
Visit us at milepoint.health and follow us on LinkedIn. We frequently organize exciting events for life sciences founders and executives like this one, so stay in touch.
Discover more about Milepoint
Milepoint is a not-for-profit platform for commercial development teams of biotech, medtech, and digital health startups and scaleups. We offer an alternative to high-ticket consulting projects and provide access to flexible support in market validation, regulatory strategy, patient value, market access, and pricing in the EU and US markets. We are a community of independent executives and advisors with experience in top Pharma and MedTech companies, committed to helping innovators reach patients.
