Greetings from the Healthcare Conference in London!

I had the pleasure of spending three days in a fully packed venue with healthcare investors and Biotech, Pharma, Life Science and MedTech companies from all around the world, as the Jefferies London Healthcare Conference attracted over 4000 attendees to London.

With 5 minutes between meetings the tempo stayed high all day but luckily there was also time to listen to interesting group presentations on highly topical subjects like AI in healthcare and the next bounce for GLP-1’s and metabolic health. GLP-1s are approved for diabetes and obesity, but there is growing evidence for other indications across therapeutic areas also.

As one can expect, there was also a lot of discussions, almost in all meetings, what the new US administration will mean for healthcare policy with a focus on pharmaceutical pricing, access and vaccines. The nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services had a big negative effect on healthcare stocks once announced. However, concerns for me eased a bit when so many C-suites members downplayed his effect and primarily said that more transparency and dialogue regarding for example vaccines is only a good thing. One well-attended discussion was with Peter Marks, the Director of the FDA Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER). Such a trustworthy person with a mission to serve public health, not politics. He welcomed a more open discussion and dialogue since science and facts outweigh misinformation. Leadership in the area of biomedicine is an area of national security and a national priority for the country, he said.

Obesity was one of the hot topics once again, which is understandable considering the enormous potential. Much more focus on the prospects of oral programs than before. Excitement around Eli Lillys orforglipron Phase 3 results for 2025 and some worried about the lack of clear oral catalysts for Novo Nordisk due to disappointing early data for monlunabant. Novo Nordisk themselves still had faith here. Pfizer on the other hand sounded very optimistic and highlighted that they are a small molecule company. One of their promising developments is danuglipron, an oral GLP-1. Clinical trials are ongoing, and Pfizer is now working on a once-daily formulation.

Regarding obesity all eyes are, however, focused on Novo Nordisk’s CagriSema read-out expected any day now. “The next generation drug in obesity and diabetes”, as the company said. Novo (and the market) is expecting a 25% weight loss with a Wegovy-like risk profile. Anything short of this would be a clear disappointment.

But there was so much more ongoing than just obesity. I had 22 company meetings and attended three thematic presentations. The meetings covered companies from several healthcare subsectors – Pharma and Biotech, CDMO: s, animal care companies, CRO: s and Medtech companies.

I met 9 of our portfolio companies, with one of them being our newest Fondita Global Small Cap US-holding Collegium Pharmaceuticals. Always nice to hear a CFO saying that things are hitting on all cylinders.

Healthcare continues to be a super interesting sector to have exposure to going into 2025. And M&A activity will certainly pick up, after a dry 2024.

Janna Haahtela
Portfolio Manager