Cathay Innovation Reports from the 2024 JP Morgan Healthcare Conference
The four-day J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference (JPM), which takes place every year in our hometown of San Francisco, is recognized as the world’s largest healthcare symposium — attracting a diverse crowd of over 8,000 invite-only attendees with thousands more coming for side events, including investors, entrepreneurs, scientists, bankers and media professionals. The event is a platform for discussing advancing medical innovation and drug development through new deals and partnerships. Additionally, it offers an opportunity to gauge the industry’s mood, with the previous year marked by challenges but also by the prospects of the vast impact AI will have in the improvement of healthcare.
This year, Cathay Innovation co-hosted a private event with Orrick and Horizon Technology Finance, underscoring a strong and growing US-based network that brings value to our LPs, founders and broader ecosystem. Held at the famous SF Moma with around 500 guests across the industry, it was our pleasure to kick off the 42nd annual JPM Healthcare Conference.
The event brought a great slice of the JPM community together, resulting in engaging conversations throughout the night. Denis Barrier delivered opening remarks on behalf of Cathay Innovation, along with our Limited Partner, Sanofi, represented by Jared Josleyn, Global Head of Digital Healthcare General Medicines. Jared and Denis shared their enthusiasm for the ongoing Sanofi-Cathay Innovation collaboration as well as our joint global ecosystem efforts. Some of our portfolio companies with strong value propositions in the healthcare industry joined us as well — including Nabla, Owkin, Inato and Skan. We had the opportunity to connect them with various stakeholders in the room: corporates like Kaiser Permanente, Mayo Clinic, Mitsui and venture capital firms like B Capital, Polaris Partners, Jazz Venture Partners, Norwest, GSR Ventures, DCVC, Montage Ventures, and Forty51 Ventures.
Throughout the week, we attended remarkable events hosted by corporate partners, portfolio companies, investors and startups. It was great to see the city of SF full of life, with venues packed from wall to wall, along with strong announcements for the life sciences industry and optimism overall for what’s to come in 2024.
Key takeaways from the week: what is next in healthcare?
“JPM showcased so many exciting developments, including the use of AI for drug discovery to make drug development happen at a faster pace and intensive investments by providers to expand outpatient networks to provide cheaper, more convenient care. And, with profitability top-of-mind for both healthcare companies and investors, investors have their eyes on companies that will be able to deliver both growth and profitability.” — Alexandre Lebrun, Co-founder and CEO of Nabla. Nabla is a clinician copilot which improves patient care by automatically generating clinical notes, taking the burden away from healthcare professionals that recently raised $24M in a financing led by Cathay Innovation.
AI is a key strategy for the healthcare ecosystem.
Healthcare innovators are energized to build startups around AI technology, including applying AI to digital front doors, administrative tools, and drug discovery and development. While we’re still in the early days and there’s still valid skepticism about the use cases, ideas are flowing. We see examples of these collaborations through Mayo Clinic’s partnership with Cerebras Systems to develop large-scale AI models, Alphabet’s Isomorphic Labs partnering with pharmaceutical companies on research collaborations, and Sanofi’s commitment to becoming an AI-powered biopharma company at scale.
GLP-1s are changing the game.
Cardiometabolic health was at the core of JPM discussions, with conversations during the conference surrounding increased demand, investments in the next generation of weight-loss therapeutics, and going above and beyond GLP-1s to tackle cardiometabolic diseases.
Value-based care contracts are on the rise.
Progress is being made in expanding value-based care contracts from primary care to specialty and beyond.
In Closing
JPM continues to be a gathering place for healthcare leaders and innovators across the country. For our team, it was an amazing week of meeting with innovative companies, reconnecting with our close partners, and celebrating with the greater community.
Thank you to our co-sponsors, Orrick and Horizon Technology Finance, all our guests, and our colleagues from Paris and Cathay Capital NY, who joined us. And thanks to everyone who contributed to making this event a great success. We look forward to seeing you all next year!
