#Twenty25 - Funding the future of health tech - Part 18/20 Interview with Issy Gordon, Salica Investments

Ian Coyne: In 2025, what do you think are going to be the interesting investment areas in health tech and broadly in tech?

Issy Gordon: in 2025, the opportunity is as much in pharma as in healthcare at the early stage. Health tech is very crowded at the early stage and many companies are going after the same customers.

While there is still much to be done, there is a real need and opportunity in the pharma sector. Given the Inflation Reduction Act and its implications for pharma companies on costs and value-based care, as well as the impact of GLP-1s on the industry, the focus is shifting to how to prioritize and allocate R&D budgets effectively. Companies need to convert their R&D pipelines from average performance to high performance, similar to GLP-1 success.

Ian: Beyond 2025, what are the big areas you think will be disruptive or innovative in health tech?

Issy: One significant area is neurodegenerative diseases. We still don't fully understand conditions like Alzheimer's and dementia, and there is a need to sub-stratify these diseases to treat them more effectively and identify them much earlier. Companies are working on various approaches, such as using blood biomarkers, building healthcare large language models that mimic brain degeneration, and analyzing population health data to signal in the noise.

However, these efforts are still in the early stages. The introduction of large language models into the healthcare system also raises questions about regulation, as these models are not patient-facing but assist doctors. Regulators need to determine how to regulate these evolving technologies effectively. 

Ian: How do you see the role of large language models (LLMs) in healthcare, particularly in patient interactions?

Issy: While LLMs have the potential to become table stakes for patient-facing tools, such as replacing WebMD, the most exciting use cases are not patient-facing. Instead, they lie in using LLMs to learn everything about physiology and understand functions and degeneration. For patient interactions, LLMs might be more accepted by tech-savvy, engaged individuals, but there are still high levels of patient anxiety associated with being diagnosed by a machine. Having said this, using LLMs in administration efforts such as writing up notes and other administrative tasks, is already becoming table stakes and will be commoditized quickly. 

Ian: What are your thoughts on the future of health insurance and direct-to-consumer healthcare?

Issy: Health insurance in the UK is in a tough spot, with rising costs making workplace policies less accessible. There is a massive opportunity for a challenger, like a ‘Gen Z Bupa’, offering affordable, direct-to-consumer policies with digital-first services. Additionally, direct-to-consumer healthcare might see a resurgence, with individuals willing to pay for tools to manage chronic conditions or specific health needs, such as egg freezing. This shift could lead to significant innovation in how healthcare services are delivered and accessed but also call into question the best funding models of healthcare.

Ian: Innovation can often come from looking to other markets. What specific markets do you find particularly interesting for healthcare innovation?

Issy: Yes, markets like the Middle East, Australia, and Brazil are particularly interesting. Each has unique characteristics that lead to forward thinking when it comes to healthcare innovation. For example, Brazil has a population accustomed to paying for healthcare services, Australia has a distributed population and a forward-thinking strategy when it comes to health innovation, and the Middle East has governments eager to invest in modern healthcare systems.

Ian: If you had a magic wand that could change one thing to massively increase innovation in health tech, what would that be?

Issy: The ultimate need is for global open-source, anonymized healthcare data. This would revolutionize our ability to make sense of data and drive innovation. Currently, data access is a significant barrier, and if we could overcome this in a way that still protected patient safety and confidentiality, it would lead to substantial advancements in disease progression, diagnostics, and genetics.

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Issy Gordon, Associate at Salica Investments

Issy is an Associate at Salica Investments, focused on primary investing.

Prior to Salica Investments, Issy worked at a number of start-ups in the fintech sector. She was responsible for growth for the Southwest region at Percent and before that, was a product manager at AssetVault. She participated in the London 2016 cohort of Techstars and started her career in finance and marketing at Liberty Global.

Issy holds a master’s in management from London Business School and a BA in Politics and International Relations from Bristol University.

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