Areas to watch out for in healthcare
There are several areas in the healthcare sector that are about to burst into full bloom. We have collected the ones to keep an eye on when investing.
The status quo of healthcare around the world is ready for disruption. There has been very little change in the way we treat patients or the infrastructure that supports that care for decades.
When considering the current state of the world, pace of innovation and the convergence of multiple technologies such as computing, robotics, and genetic advances, this seems entirely astonishing. That being said, the core business of healthcare is keeping people alive and healthy - mistakes do not only equate to a loss of time or money, but in many cases could mean a person actually dies. So you can understand it if the current industry leaders and clinicians are on the side of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, as opposed to the Silicon Valley tech mantra of “move fast and break things!”.
However, you cannot hold back the tide, and ready or not, a new era of innovation is coming to the health sector.
Some of the interesting, exciting, life-saving, and dare we say profitable areas emerging within health are listed below:
Digital Health
Computation and digitization will continue to creep into the entire healthcare value chain, from telehealth and machine-learning assisted diagnostics, to embedded tech in hardware devices and beyond:
Telehealth and remote patient monitoring
More and better solutions will emerge surrounding this technology. New hybrid solutions and creative business models will be offered to an increasingly willing marketplace.
“Globally, telehealth companies raised $4.2 billion in the first half of 2021” according to Fierce Healthcare, Dec 2021 Some good examples from the Nordic region of companies capitalising on this increased consumer need are; Dr.Dropin, Kry, and Hjemmelegene, all of whom experienced accelerated growth during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Virtual/Augmented Reality (VR/AR)
The processing of clinical data to help utilise the massive amounts of (big) health data being accrued (by smart devices, wearables, social media, etc.), as well as the ability to deliver quicker, more accurate diagnostics are two use cases for AI in health. Providing a hyper-realistic virtual environment for pain & anxiety management is a good example for the fast growing VR/AR market.
Precision Medicine
New data processing capabilities are allowing enormous swathes of patient data to be analysed with speed, accuracy and cost efficiencies unavailable until now. Couple this with the increased speed and significant cost reduction of genetic profiling, and you provide clinicians with the ability to vastly increase the personalisation of each patient's treatment. Bio-me, a platform which enables high-volume precision microbiome profiling, is an example from this category. Pubgene is another - providing patients and clincians a personalised report of the most relevant treatment options availalble, based on each patients own genetics, treatment and medical history.
“Our team have all experienced first hand what impact a cancer diagnosis can have on patients and their families. We’re passionate about delivering a scalable software based (SaaS) solution to help patients and their clinicians secure a full understanding of available treatment options, personlised to each persons genetic makeup.” – Håvard Hauge, CEO PubGene
Women’s Health
In all its forms, no matter how you look at it, Women’s Health is hiding in plain sight as a gigantic opportunity to bring health equity to half the population and make a very healthy profit along the way (pun intended)!
“The women’s health market is projected to hit $60 billion by 2027, and just 4% of all healthcare R&D and 5% of digital health investment is focused on women’s health… women are still under-represented in nearly all clinical trials.” (Forbes, December 2021)
Mental Health
(“..a market that’s attracting massive investment dollars for startups” Fierce Healthcare, 2021)
Mental Health solutions, services and apps
Considering that nearly 11% of the global population live with a mental health condition, and that it remains a largely unspoken issue for so many sufferers, the potential for growth is phenomenal. Not to mention the ongoing challenges surrounding mental health during and after the pandemic.
Some growing companies emerging out of Norway include; Fourth Wave Therapeutics - bringing data science to cognitive behavioural therapy, and Overvinne - delivering a “psychologist in your pocket” via an app.
Predictions for other emerging areas to watch:
Virtual specialty care: following on from mass adoption of primary care thrust upon the patient population of the world by the Covid-19 pandemic
Cell Therapies and Gene Editing
Robotics;
‘Warm-technology’ to reduce loneliness (example - No Isolation)
Remote surgery solutions through robotic technologies
Bionic limbs (example - Hy5)
At home laboratories: self-serve, at-home testing for microbiome, blood, etc.
Fintech in healthcare: disruptive payment solutions and facilitation up and down the value chain to assist with streamlining reimbursements, billing & payments processing, affordability (ie. care now, pay later models)
Contribution by
Jeremy McCrohan, Norwegian Health Investor Network
