Healthcare companies chase cures and capital in South Florida
Leaders of hundreds of public healthcare companies are in South Florida this week, talking up their innovations and financial performances to attract and impress investors at the Goldman Sachs Global Healthcare Conference.
Consumers will find that nearly every disease or ailment they suffer from has a treatment in development, as big and small companies see opportunities in Americans' desire to live longer and pain-free. From new devices for sleep apnea to drugs for cancer, to creams for chronic itching and drops for improved eyesight, advances are underway that hold promise.
Presenters like LENZ Therapeutics wowed the audience on Monday with product updates, such as an eyedrop that lasts all day and allows for close-up vision, which most people use reader glasses to achieve. The eye drops target a market of over 128 million people in the U.S. who need help with near vision.
This year, new factors are affecting how quickly consumers can obtain a drug or device to improve or save their lives, according to company executives. The uncertainty in Washington, D.C., looms large. Policy turbulence, regulatory uncertainty, shakeups at health agencies and President Donald Trump's aggressive stance on drug pricing and tariffs factor into the future for the devices and treatments working their way toward the marketplace.
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'This year, the biggest questions we are opening with for all of our companies is the policy calculus in Washington, D.C., and how that could play out across the healthcare sector,' said Asad Haider, Goldman Sachs' head of the healthcare business unit within Global Investment Research and the lead analyst for the U.S. pharmaceuticals sector. 'The starting point in all these presentations is give us the landscape on where things could go with respect to what's going on in Washington, D.C.'
Over 200 top managerial teams attended the conference, representing every corner of the healthcare field, from major pharmaceutical companies to small biotech firms. The goal of the three-day conference was to provide institutional investors with insights into companies' business plans, data, and progress, particularly at a strategic mid-year point.
Innovation hotspots this year include treatments for weight loss, with a focus on oral drugs replacing injectables and medications to help maintain a healthy weight. Another is oncology, immunology, and neuroscience with breakthroughs to detect diseases earlier and find new drug delivery methods. Several companies at the conference have formed partnerships with companies across the globe to access new markets, technologies, and expertise.
China is emerging as a global leader in biotechnology, with numerous U.S. and European companies collaborating with or licensing technologies from Chinese companies. Summit Therapeutics, a Miami-based company, drew interest at the conference with its innovative cancer-fighting, bispecific antibody, ivonescimab, and its partnership with a Chinese laboratory. Ivonescimab has shown promise in previous trials in China and additional trials are underway combining the drug with chemotherapy to target non-small-cell lung cancer.
'We have over 22 or 23 different trials going on or completed or going to start,' said Maky Zangaheh, co-CEO of Summit Therapeutics. 'One element of that is a phase 3 trial that China and us are combining with over 3,000 patients enrolled, so we will have a good safety profile and efficacy profile in many different therapeutic areas. From a commercialization point of view, we are already in China and have two Chinese approvals, which is significant progress.'
Doron Junger, of Sanvia Capital, a South Florida biotech investment firm, said he attended the conference looking to invest in companies developing innovations that could address large or niche markets in a more meaningful way. A few have caught his attention; however, he is cautious about those who tout therapies in their pipelines.
'More drug trials fail than succeed, and while there is a lot of innovation in this industry in areas of need like oncology and chronic diseases, even at a late stage, there is potential for a clinical trial to fail to show an advantage over a placebo group,' he said. 'Even if it does, that trial has to pass muster with the rigorous standards the FDA sets for approval.'
On Monday, Arcturus Therapeutics of San Diego presented an update on a daily inhaled treatment for Cystic Fibrosis, which could be a breakthrough for the disease. Additionally, BioAge Labs CEO Kristen Fortney explained how her California company uses samples from a repository to study the biology of human aging and develop new therapies for obesity. Even after scrapping its lead obesity candidate due to liver toxicity, BioAge Labs is not shying away from the weight loss space and believes it can improve upon oral therapies now on the market, she said.
'More and more people are aging, and by definition, they are using more healthcare,' said Haider of Goldman Sachs. 'The aging population is going to need new drugs, better drugs, faster drugs for diabetes and cardiometabolics and oncology and all of these diseases that potentially could kill you. There will be innovation, but what are we willing to pay for that innovation?'
Will regulations make it more difficult and/or costly for people to access the devices and drugs that can save their lives? Haider said drug pricing will be a key concern for both consumers and investors. 'Everyone is chasing big caps, big targets, but there will be winners and losers.'
South Florida Sun Sentinel health reporter Cindy Goodman can be reached at cgoodman@sunsentinel.com.
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