May 13, 2018 | Israel is hosting the 17th MIXiii-BIOMED 2018 Conference and Exhibition in Tel Aviv this week, bringing together hundreds of healthcare professionals, investors, and speakers for the annual event focusing on innovation in the Israeli life science industry. The three-day confab will take place between May 15-17, 2018, at the David InterContinental Hotel in Tel Aviv and will look at trends and developments that are shaping the future of #healthcare systems and life sciences, including in #digitalhealth, #oncologytreatments, #medicaldevices, #nanomedicine, and #personalizeddiagnostics. Ahead of the conference, organizers released facts and figures about the industry, noting its ” compounded #annualgrowth (CAGR) of 10 percent from 2008 to 2017.” Israeli #lifescience companies, of which there are 1,200, raised $1.2 billion in VC funds in 2017, over 135 investment deals, marking a 41 percent increase compared to 2016, with $850 million raised in 137 deals. Last year also saw two significant exists, the acquisition of NeuroDerm by Mitsubishi Tanabe for $1.1 billion, and of Valtech by Edwards Lifesciences for $1 billion with an upfront payment of $340 million. The report also emphasized growing trends in the industry, including how the influences of artificial intelligence will transform medical diagnosis, the rise of immunotherapy and gene therapy, personalized medicine and tackling disease progression.