It was really fantastic to attend the LSX World Congress 2022 in London on 10th and 11th May. So many excellent conversations to be had with leaders of the lifesciences industry. Covering biotech, healthtech and medtech, the conference touched on aspects of the industry that are extremely important to - and exciting for – us and our clients.

I particularly enjoyed the discussions around partnerships and deal-making, with perspectives from big pharma, big tech, small and emerging life sciences players, academia, public healthcare and CDMOs, on their strategies, what they look for, best practices (do it earlier!) and what not to do. What’s clear is that everyone is keen to work together, and it’s not just headline-hitting big pharma looking to partner or make a deal or acquisition. An increasingly collaborative and defragmented ecosystem is the future of life sciences and healthcare.

There was a big focus on AI and the digitalisation of care delivery. The ultimate aim is to achieve true patient-centricity by using data and tech to optimise clinical management and HCP-patient dynamics. The key message from both big tech and tech start-ups, is that tech is not there to hinder these relationships, but help them. It’s all about building trust and ensuring confidentiality. As the CMO of IBM, Mark Davies said, “care delivery is both an art and a science. AI should be seen as enriching human interactions, not replacing them.”. We are moving towards a world of hyper-personalised healthcare, with the help of healthtech.

Advanced therapeutic medicinal products such as cell and gene therapies, also featured heavily in the congress, with a focus on demonstrating value and achieving market access, in the face of cost-constrained healthcare systems and uncertainty around the “one and done” nature of these therapies. A particular session on the second day of the congress, focused on what it takes to successfully transition these therapies from bench to bedside. One of the most important messages coming out of this lively discussion between pharma and biotech executives, was that getting to grips with manufacturing to quality standards and at scale, as early as absolutely possible, is critical to success. Think about and address this early without rushing into clinical trials! Investors in cell and gene therapies also need to be cognisant of this approach, and be okay with taking upfront financial risk and failing early, pre-clinical.

Looking forward to LSX 2023.