Insights from the future of biotech and heathtech innovation panel
A panel of leading Johnian entrepreneurs spoke about recent trends and challenges in the biotech and healthtech landscape.
The event at Gray’s Inn, London, on 29 September, heard from John Bogassian (2011), co-founder at Pangea Bio and CEO and co-founder at Kadence Bio; Lisa Anson (1986), Chief Executive Officer of UK based Redx; and Jonathan O’Keeffe (2011), founder and CEO of Machine Medicine Technologies. It was moderated by Jean Abraham (2018), Professor of Precision Breast Cancer Medicine and Honorary Consultant in Medical Oncology at the University of Cambridge.
They discussed the journeys behind their ventures, from identifying unmet healthcare needs to building, scaling and commercialising innovative solutions. The panel also explored the latest trends, breakthrough technologies and emerging opportunities across health-tech and biotech, examining how innovation is transforming healthcare delivery, diagnostics, therapeutics and patient outcomes.
After the event, Lisa Anson, who has led the development of RedX from a research group into a clinical stage biotech, summed up her advice for those launching a start-up in the field: “Realise that it is a tough environment and you do get knocked back – failure in science is part of the process of innovation, and actually also in financing. To that end, resilience is really key – don’t stop trying. If you can’t go through the door, go through the window.”
The audience heard about the impact of artificial intelligence on the biotech industry, but the panel underlined the importance of human creativity and ideas driving innovation. Lisa explained that while AI was good at crunching large data, a human was still needed to be the “inventor” of the tech in order to come up with something new, as AI is all based on existing data. There was also discussion on how the use of AI has moved on from drug discovery and is now also being used to optimise clinical trials and make them smaller or shorter.
Panellists shared their best tips for fundraising, with Jonathan O’Keeffe suggesting that one successful method was to “turn fear into greed”, in other words to frame the problem so that investors could see how your business could offer a solution that makes money. To increase the chance of success, it’s important to make investors fear they may be missing out on a lucrative opportunity, he explained. John Bogassian echoed this sentiment, saying it was vital to make investors feel they are getting a great deal.
Finally, invited by Jean Abraham to reflect on their time at College, the panel spoke of the difference to their careers that St John’s had made, especially the freedom students are given to explore many interests, as well as the confidence students gain in dealing with any situation.