Who can cross the confused winter and become the next king of business in the medical and health industry?
Recently, 36Kr WISE2023 "Looking for certainty" King of Business-New Trends of Medical Health was held in Beijing. The conference joined hands with scientists, entrepreneurs and investors to find the "certainty" of the industry worth betting on from the real clinical needs and technological innovation.
Medical health is a track that can cross the cycle and has great development potential. It needs the investment of "1 billion dollars in 10 years" and the hard work of being willing to sit on the bench. At present, China’s basic research ability is booming, and innovative forces are rising. In the great changes, the new generation of enterprises are focusing on the real pain points in clinic, breaking through the technical bottleneck, crossing the market difficulties and risks, step by step, and achieving a win-win situation of social value and commercial value through innovative products and services.
In the opening speech session, Yang Li, chief content officer of 36Kr, mentioned that the number of elderly people over 65 in China has reached 210 million, aging and diseases are issues that must be faced directly, and the market is always calling for medical products and services with real clinical value, which makes everyone firmly believe that the medical and health industry is a trillion-dollar sunrise industry.
She pointed out that in the past, innovative pharmaceutical companies in China seized the opportunity of several super-large targets, which stimulated the expansion of the biomedical industry in China. However, with the maturity of the payer and the capital market, it is difficult to obtain a high premium for the micro-innovation that followed in the past; At present, only the medical instruments that are significantly superior to the original treatment plan in clinical effectiveness and safety can really stand out.
Yang Li, Chief Content Officer of 36Kr
The following is a speech by Ms. Yang Li, Chief Content Officer of 36Kr, edited by 36Kr:
If you are a sci-fi fan, these movies must be familiar.
In The Matrix, human beings in the real world can insert connectors behind their necks and enter the consciousness matrix of the "matrix". In "Avatar", scientists let the brain synchronize with Avatar’s body induction through the induction cabin; In Star Wars, the control of mechanical prostheses through ideas ….. all these vividly depict the super power of brain-computer interface in the future.
This year, Neuralink, Musk’s brain-computer interface company, was officially approved for human clinical trials. Thousands of patients with gradual freezing and spinal cord injury lined up to join the group, hoping to implant electrodes and chips in the brain to regain their motor ability. In China, a number of startups have emerged to develop invasive brain-computer interfaces, which have been favored by investment institutions and are developing more indications. The cutting-edge technological innovation represented by brain-computer interface is the source of vitality of medical and health industry.
Biomedicine is a track with high investment and high risk. However, this year’s popularity of a "magic medicine", Smegrupeptide, has made ordinary people realize how high the return of innovation in pharmaceutical research and development may be. This drug, which was originally used to reduce blood sugar, quickly came out of the circle because of its excellent performance in weight loss. In the first three quarters of 2023 alone, it contributed $14.2 billion to Novo Nordisk. It not only pulls the parent company’s market value beyond LV, but also becomes the current European enterprise market value champion; It also drove the investment boom of the entire GLP-1 receptor agonist track by itself.
The power of science and technology allows human beings to enter outer space, control large models and create billions of wealth. However, in the face of the one-way process of birth, illness and death, human strength is so weak. Up to now, there are still no effective drugs and solutions for common diseases such as nonalcoholic fatty liver and Alzheimer’s disease.
Nowadays, the number of elderly people over 65 in China has reached 210 million. Aging and diseases are issues that must be faced directly. The market is always calling for innovative drugs and medical devices that have real clinical value and can solve pain points. This is what we are willing to firmly believe: the medical and health industry is a trillion-dollar track and a sunrise industry.
However, since the first innovative drug was approved in China in 2011, the development history of innovative drugs in China is only 12 years. Seize the opportunity of several super-large targets, take advantage of local talents and cost advantages, and a number of innovative pharmaceutical companies rose rapidly and rushed to the market, which once stimulated the expansion of the biomedical industry in China.
However, with the maturity of the payer and the capital market, it is difficult to obtain a high premium for the micro-innovation that followed in the past. Only the medical instruments that are significantly superior to the original treatment plan in clinical effectiveness and safety can really stand out.
It is optimistic that China’s basic research ability is booming, and the original innovation ability of biomedicine has also made a qualitative leap, and the whole industrial chain of R&D, design, production and registration supporting innovative medical equipment has also matured. In recent years, China’s innovative drugs and machinery have gradually become a majestic trend, and many enterprises have rushed out of the tight encirclement in the global competition and got a lot of business transcripts.
It can be said that world-class medical companies are being bred in China at present.
Indeed, the phenomenon of "stuck neck" is still common, the trend of medical insurance control fees is still continuing, the enthusiasm of capital has also subsided, and the entrepreneurial game in the pharmaceutical industry has switched to a difficult mode, full of various uncertainties. However, all the guests present are still willing to bend down and enter such a slow but bright track, using medical technology as a spear to overcome stubborn diseases.
The more you are in such a cold winter, the more you need to hold a group to keep warm. Today, we chose a representative medical subdivision track and invited more than 30 entrepreneurs and investors in the frontier medical science and technology field to talk about the inspiration and persistence of medical technology innovation, as well as the uneven road of admission and commercialization.
The fog will eventually disperse, and the winter will eventually pass. The theme of this year’s 36Kr WISE Medical Sub-forum is "Looking for certainty". We hope to sum up the coming 2023, predict the trend of venture capital in the medical and health industry in 2024, and explore more valuable certainty creed. Believe that the sun will eventually rise as usual!