The 2025 edition of Time’s annual “best inventions” list saw the magazine expand the docket from 200 to 300 innovations—more than 10% of which comprise medical devices, pharmaceuticals and other novel products in the healthcare space.
The list’s dedicated “Medical & Healthcare” category includes 29 recent inventions. On the pharma front, there’s Ars Pharma’s epinephrine nasal spray Neffy, Eisai and Biogen’s recently approved Iqlik autoinjector for subcutaneous maintenance doses of Leqembi, Gilead’s twice-yearly HIV PrEP med Yeztugo and Vertex’s nonopioid pain med Journavx.
Among the honorees in the medtech field were Abbott’s i-STAT traumatic brain injury blood test, AngioDynamics’ NanoKnife device for minimally invasive prostate cancer treatment, Ceribell’s point-of-care EEG system, Cresilon’s bleed-stopping Traumagel, Medtronic’s BrainSense adaptive deep brain stimulation implant to reduce Parkinson’s disease tremors, Mirvie’s Encompass preeclampsia risk blood test, Proprio’s Paradigm 3D spine surgery guidance software, RapidAI’s Lumina 3D stroke-spotting tech, SetPoint Medical’s neuromodulation implant for rheumatoid arthritis and Synchron’s Stentrode brain-computer interface.
Cellares made the list for its Cell Shuttle system aimed at speeding up cell therapy production, as did Sanofi for its Modulus system designed to manufacture up to four different products at a time.
Under “Health & Wellness,” meanwhile, Time recognized January AI’s virtual continuous glucose monitor app, Osteoboost’s vibrating belt to reduce osteoporosis bone loss, SoundHealth’s Sonu headband for drug-free sinus relief and Teal Health’s at-home cervical cancer screening test kit, among others.
Even beyond the dedicated categories, biopharma and healthcare innovations were scattered across several other segments of the list. Northwestern University’s dissolvable infant-sized pacemaker, Boston University’s wireless MRI coils and Cognixion’s speech-generating headset were among the “Experimental” honorees, for example.
Elsewhere, hexavalent vaccines were lauded in the “Social Impact” category for their recent rollout in low-income countries, the Sequel Spiral tampon was placed under the “Sports & Fitness” heading, and the NeuroVigil portable AI-powered brain monitor was categorized as “Wearable Technology.”
Time also gave out a handful of honorable mentions to inventions that didn’t make the 300-strong main list. Among the runners-up were Cionic’s leg mobility sleeve, Uresta’s device to stop urinary leaks, Butterfly Network’s latest portable ultrasound scanner, TytoCare’s device for virtual respiratory exams and the Apple Watch’s new blood pressure monitoring feature.
Meanwhile, the magazine looked back on its first quarter-century of honoring the world’s best inventions and selected the 25 “most iconic” to fill out a “Hall of Fame.” Past honorees that made the cut included Merck’s NuvaRing birth control, the 23andMe DNA test, the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide drugs and Northwell Health’s Double Neural Bypass technology connecting the brain and body in people with paralysis.