Dramatic life science advancements are emerging that are likely to transform healthcare over the next 20 years. For example, continued rapid progress of cell and gene therapies will offer a complete cure for a wide variety of diseases. Major shifts in how disease and injury are diagnosed and treated will upend current business models in both biopharma and medtech. There will be more emphasis on prevention and more personalized treatment options. Personalized treatment will be simultaneously more effective and come with many fewer unwanted side effects.
There are now already over a thousand life science companies developing new cellular and gene therapies and that is just one of the life science areas showing rapid acceleration. Much of the innovation is being done by young companies. Companies focused on these growth areas have a unique opportunity to deliver substantial value to shareholders and, ultimately, to society.
I recently came across an interesting report by Deloitte discussing how established life science organizations may need to re-imagine their business models over the next two decades. [ref 1] The chart below highlights some of the paradigm changes they expect to see:
At VIC Tech we already have portfolio companies working toward several of these paradigm changes. For example, CardioWise uses machine learning-based analysis of cardiac CT imaging to provide unprecedented insights and quantitative tracking of heart health. Vixiar Medical, Cellia Science, and Zebra Analytix are moving diagnostic tracking out of the clinics and hospitals to the home for heart health, blood analysis, and biomarker breath analysis, respectively. Solenic Medical’s novel non-invasive technology can prevent implant infections before they occur (as well as treat infections). SFC Fluidics provides wearable drug delivery and monitoring technology. Solaris Vaccines can respond to emergent infectious disease threats at record speed. There are a variety of other examples, including technologies in our pipeline such as personalized oncology drugs.
Another Deloitte report considered how disruptive innovation will impact the treatment of specific conditions. [ref 2] While cellular and genetic therapies are expected to lead to cures of many genetic diseases, more complex, multi-factorial diseases are not likely to be completely curable in the near future. Nevertheless, dramatic progress is possible through preventative approaches and through personalized medicine that more specifically and effectively targets the given condition with fewer side effects. Too often, today, doctors and patients must accept side effects that reduce quality and length of life in order to address the immediate threats from the disease. Over the next 20 years, many more personalized and specifically targeted disease treatment approaches will become available. As one example, within the VIC portfolio, BiologicsMD has a therapeutics platform technology for bone and hair loss disorders comprising fusion proteins where one of the protein components targets the specific location (bone or hair) and the other protein component delivers sustained therapeutic action at the target location.
With big changes—such as we are currently seeing in the life science industry—comes great opportunities for investors, for economies, and for human advancement. VIC Tech (Home - VIC Tech) has been built to form and develop companies that have both high impact and high commercial opportunity. Our affiliated investor network (VIC Network – Investing in a Healthy Future), comprising individual accredited investors across the country, co-invests alongside VIC Tech in these exciting opportunities.
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