In the first half of 2019, life science companies raised $469m through series A rounds in Europe – a solid start to the year compared to the $686m companies raised in 2018 overall. Silicon Valley Bank expects the European sector to be in “rude health” for the next two to three years at least, when it comes to accessing VC cash.

As health care transitions to digitally enabled wellness, medtechs will be missing a trick if they persist in holding onto the delivery, business methods and models that were the standard of the early 2000s. Heightened expectations of the new options for dealing with personal health mean that new opportunities are there for the taking – but industry shouldn’t let the tech companies have it all their own way, advised ZS principal Brian Chapman.

The complexity of producing viable drug candidates is increasing as an abundance of new science keeps extending the range of possible targets and fragmenting disease subtypes. Proximity to novel exploratory research is a driver of pipeline productivity – so can physical location within a communal geography of well-resourced intellectual firepower raise the odds for R&D success? In Vivo sits down with eight key leaders in academia, VC, commercial real estate and groundbreaking biotech to discuss how Los Angeles – the “out there” city of out-sized ambitions – is positioning itself for global leadership in the curative technologies of the future.

In case you have not noticed, a new gold rush appears to be under way. Buoyed by surging interest in medical cannabis, big and small companies from around the world are racing to take advantage of the potential for the marijuana plant to cure numerous diseases and take its place in the pantheon of pharmaceutical products.

If there is one fact that even the most casual observer of the pharma industry is aware of, it is that biologics are the leading growth engine of global medicines spending. According to IQVIA, revenues from biologics increased by 70% during 2011-2016 to reach $232bn, accounting for roughly 20-22% of total pharmaceutical spending.

Christophe Bancel, CEO of French medtech innovator TISSIUM, has made a career in various parts of the health care products industry, identifying business opportunities, founding, directing and leading ventures, and planning for contingencies. The ex-Serono and UCB executive, who has had many other postings, is now testing his adaptability and leadership qualities by bringing a versatile class III synthetic polymer device into key markets.