World Health Day: life-changing investments

As we celebrate World Health Day this Friday 7 April, it is important to recognize the significant impact that private equity and venture capital (PE/VC) have had on the healthcare sector, helping bring #HealthForAll. 

PE/VC have been at the forefront of the healthcare revolution, funding cutting-edge research and development, and bringing new treatments and therapies to market. 

We invite you to explore more below:

Invest Europe report: ‘VC at the heart of life sciences’

• Venture capital investment in European Biotech & Healthcare has increased more than threefold in the last decade.

• European VC investments, 2017-21: €13.5bn invested in Biotech & Healthcare Venture stage investments, in 2,634 Biotech & Healthcare Venture stage companies, representing 23% of total Venture investments

• VC-backed European Biotech & Healthcare is a major employer and one of the fastest growing in terms of jobs: 56,867 employees in 2020, a +20% increase since 2019

• With 25 (!) examples in biotechnology therapeutics, medical devices, diagnostics, and digital health. For example, VC funding has helped

  • Oxford-founded Exscientia deploy AI to precision-engineer medicines.

  • Belgium’s Nyxoah to develop solutions for sleep apnea.

  • Denmark’s Ascendis Pharma, which produces improved patentable versions of existing drugs, almost tripled employee numbers in just three years.

Invest Europe - BBC Film: The brainwaves behind future healthcare - a film about IQ Capital’s Neurovalens, a start up that is all about putting an end to expensive and invasive surgical procedures via a novel headset. 

Member articles and case studies:

Carlyle's Abingworth involvement in the creation and development of:

• Solexa, which was acquired by Illumina - its technology forms the basis of Illumina’s world-leading DNA sequencing platform.

• Astex, a discovery company founded in Cambridge that has created three new cancer drugs and is now part of Otsuka Pharmaceuticals.

• GammaDelta Therapeutics, a more-recent company created in a hot cell therapy area, which was acquired by Takeda last year.

European Investment Fund (EIF) portfolio examples:

• Exovite, Spain

• BCB Medical, Finland

Sofinnova-backed LimFlow is a medical device company transforming the treatment of Critical Limb Ischemia, a growing clinical need in the face of the prevalence of diabetes, heart disease and an aging population. Read CNN coverage here. And you can find Sofinnova's announcement of its new Digital Medicine Strategy here.

ICG's article and corresponding video on how the life sciences industry collaborates to develop transformative treatments. And an in-depth analysis of how ICG’s Life Sciences team finds companies to invest in and grow: unlocking opportunities that have a positive impact on families’ lives.

Gilde Healthcare: how it uses its Health Impact Council to implement its Better Care at Lower Cost strategy.

Research: What Happens When Private Equity Firms Buy Hospitals?

• A study of 45 leveraged buyouts in the US: the acquisition of a hospital by a PE firm lead to the improvement of their financial performance and did not lead to worse clinical outcome. 

• On the contrary, patients admitted for heart attacks were found to receive better quality care in terms of lower all-cause mortality within 30 days of admission.

As we look to the future of healthcare, PE/VC have the resources and expertise to tackle some of the biggest challenges facing the healthcare industry, from rising costs to access to care.