On 19 September, we hosted our 15th annual Healthcare Conference in Stockholm, with 45 presenting companies and over 400 investors and healthcare industry professionals. The participating companies represented a broad range of Biotech and MedTech companies from various subsectors.
Recent years have brought challenges in the sector, both in terms of company financing and constrained resources within hospital systems. However, the sector is gradually recovering, with stocks being rewarded for good progress.
The innovative capacity among companies is obvious, and it remains the most fundamental driver of progress in healthcare.
Brad Loncar, founder of BiotechTV, opened our conference by sharing some advice for European biotech companies, as well as looking at the key trends shaping the future of the biotech sector.
Keynote speaker Brad Loncar, founder of BioTech TV.
The conference started on the back of a positive macro signal with the FED lowering interest rates by 0.5% on the day prior to the conference. This resulted in the key biotech indices XBI and NBI trading up to levels not seen since January 2022 (which was just before the FED started to increase rates) on the day of the conference.
Overall, the sector is roaring back, with stocks in each subsegment being rewarded for good progress. Notable examples include Camurus (sustained-release products), BioInvent (oncology) and Basilea (antiinfectives). In the case of Calliditas Therapeutics, the company was even acquired this year following the successful launch of the first approved drug in a kidney disease. However, some companies that faced setbacks over the past two years, continue to suffer from low cash levels, making it difficult for them to participate in the recovery.
Most importantly, we continue to witness strong and differentiated innovation being generated within the sector, including, but not limited to: new and advanced bone graft products, novel, safe, and surprisingly efficacious drugs within oncology, rare disease drugs that shake up current treatment paradigms, and significantly improved methods for organ preservation.
Our conference hosted an orphan disease panel discussion with Anders Edvell (Immedica), Ahmed Mousa (Vicore Pharma) and Nicklas Westerholm (Egetis Therapeutics), moderated by Brad Loncar (BioTech TV).
The discussion focused on the challenges and opportunities in various orphan disease areas, global regulatory collaboration for ultra-rare diseases, the strengths of smaller companies in orphan drugs, and important insights for orphan drug companies.
The medical technology industry has many sub-sectors with ample, but also disparate, market drivers and trends. In general, most companies have an optimistic outlook, but restrained hospital budgets are still putting a lid on new investments, and many are affected by the aftermath of Covid.
Some companies experienced unusually high demand during the pandemic. For example, the need for diagnostic testing and related products rose due to the increasing number of patients in the ICUs. However, the high workload for the medical personnel implied that many nurses had left, creating new situations where it has become challenging for hospitals to allocate resources for training on new medical technology devices and products, adversely affecting many medtech companies' sales processes.
The macro situation with elevated inflation and plentiful geopolitical headwinds has also implied challenging market conditions on top of restrained hospital budgets. Still, as inflation and interest rates are on their way to normalize, we believe the highly innovative companies should be in an excellent position to show robust progress in 2025.
Our equity research analysts have summarized all 45 company presentations in a research report for clients. Access the report through your Pareto representative or our research and online trading platform.
The presenting companies included ADDvise Group, Ambu, ArcticZymes Technologies, Arcoma AB, Bactiguard, Basilea Pharmaceutica, BioArctic, BioGaia, BioInvent International, Biovica International AB, Bonesupport, Boule Diagnostics, C-RAD, Camurus, Cantargia, Carasent, CellaVision, Devyser Diagnostics, Egetis Therapeutics, Elekta, Embla Medical (previously Össur), Episurf Medical, Formycon, Genovis, Guard Therapeutics, Gubra, Integrum, Immedica Pharma, Implantica, IRLAB, Medistim, Medivir, Mendus, Mentice, Midsona, Nanoform Finland Plc, Orexo, Sobi Orphan Biovitrum Ltd., Probi, Stille, Surgical Science, Swedencare, SyntheticMR, Vicore Pharma, Xbrane Biopharma, Xspray Pharma, XVIVO.
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