PhD Scientific Days 2025

Pharmaceutical Sciences and Health Technologies II.

Factors Influencing the Performance of Health Industry Start-Ups: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Name of the presenter

Váncsa-Szántó Orsolya

Institute/workplace of the presenter

PricewaterhouseCoopers Hungary, and Semmelweis University, H-1085 Budapest, Hungar

Authors

Orsolya Váncsa-Szántó¹, Szilárd Váncsa², Donát Köller³, Roland Molontay⁴, Gergő Remete⁵, Péter Ferdinandy⁶, Emese Renáta Papp⁷

1: PricewaterhouseCoopers Hungary, Budapest and Semmelweis University H-1085 Budapest, Hungary
2: Center of Translational Medicine Budapest Hungary and Semmelweis University, H-1085 Budapest, Hungary
3: Department of Stochastics, Institute of Mathematics, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, H-1111 Budapest, Hungary, and HUN-REN-BME Stochastics Research Group, H-1111 Budapest, Hungary
4: Institute of Biostatistics and Network Science, Semmelweis University, H-1085 Budapest, Hungary and Department of Stochastics, Institute of Mathematics, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, H-1111 Budapest, Hungary
5: PricewaterhouseCoopers Hungary, Budapest
6: Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy, Semmelweis University, H-1085 Budapest, Hungary and Center for Pharmacology and Drug Research & Development, Semmelweis University, H-1085 Budapest, Hungary and Pharmahungary Group, H-6722 Szeged, Hungary
7: Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy, Semmelweis University, H-1085 Budapest, Hungary and Center for Pharmacology and Drug Research & Development, Semmelweis University, H-1085 Budapest, Hungary

Text of the abstract

INTRODUCTION:
The global health industry is expanding, yet start-ups are facing challenges hindering their long-term survival. Identifying the factors that drive the success of these ventures is important to encourage innovation, to support their growth, and to contribute to improving patient care.
AIMS:
To systematically investigate the factors influencing the success of health industry start-ups and spin-offs.
METHODS:
We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis following the Cochrane Handbook. A systematic search was conducted on 15.02.2025 across three databases—PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science—using a predefined search key. We included studies investigating health industry start-ups that reported on factors influencing the outcomes of these ventures. Each factor examined by eligible articles was extracted and grouped into main categories based on previous literature. Outcomes included venture survival by age, funding amount received, corporate venture capital, and new product development. Eligible articles reported correlations between factors and outcomes. We calculated pooled correlation coefficients (r) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using a random-effects meta-analysis.
RESULT:
We identified 26,159 records, and after screening, we included 17 articles in our study. The articles examined between 53 and 2,428 ventures per article. Eligible articles investigated a total of 204 unique factors, which we grouped into 87 homogeneous categories. The most investigated outcome was age, used as a marker of survival. Investment scheme, which is a funding strategy model (r=0.59, CI: -0.13, 0.87) and technological overlap with the parent firm (r=0.26, CI: -0.22, 0.63), showed the highest correlations; however, most factors demonstrated a pooled correlation below 0.2. Regarding the funding amount received, the investment scheme again showed the highest correlation (r=0.55, CI: -0.48, 0.92). For corporate venture capital and new product development, all factors showed correlations below 0.2. Additionally, we narratively summarized regression model results.
CONCLUSION:
A wide range of factors was identified concerning the success of health innovation ventures. However, only some demonstrated a moderate correlation with outcomes. These insights underscore the need to refine an evidence-based framework for a sustainable health innovation ecosystem.