The Fact Maker

Healthcare Innovation at IIMA Healthcare Alumni Special Interest Group and TiE Mumbai’s IIMPACT HEALTH 2021

Mumbai: The Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad’s Alumni led Healthcare Special Interest Group and TiE Mumbai organized the conclave, IIMPACT HEALTH 2021: Global Shifts, Disruptions & The Age of Unicorns – Scaling Healthcare Innovation in India, on September 16-17, 2021. This marquee HealthTech conclave, brought together thought leaders, VCs, successful Indian and global healthcare & HealthTech entrepreneurs, to decode what it takes to build a large, successful, healthcare company in India.

The welcome address was conferred by Amit Mookim, President TiE Mumbai where he underlined some of the real-world challenges to be solved by healthcare entrepreneurs. He said, “The pandemic has stretched poor healthcare infrastructure, severely impacted mental health and has increased obesity risks. This has thus accelerated tech adoption, has fast-tracked innovation and re-prioritized public health spends.”

In his inaugural address Prof Saral Mukherjee, Faculty, Production & Quantitative Methods Area, IIMA, and Dean (Alumni and Externa Relations) said, “Indian pharma is at the cusp of a once-in-a-lifetime disruption with drastic change in supply chain infrastructure, decline of small traders, increased differentiation, emergence of D2C brands, centrality of supply chain analytics and shifts in power balance.”

“India has gone through a lot of change in the last 18 months. Indian startups are at a cusp of great growth with the right mix of demographics and technology. Great ideas, endurance, talent and risk capital will create the right environment for success.” said Sudarshan Jain, Secretary General, Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance and anchor IIMA Healthcare ASIG. 

In his address, Axel Baur, Senior Partner & Pharma and Healthcare Practice Leader, Asia, Mckinsey & Company, said that Covid has brought healthcare to the forefront in many ways. There is a 5-6x increase in telemedicine traffic in 2020 and IT and Healthcare have seen most PE/VC deals in ‘20. Several innovations are in the pipeline, which will disrupt healthcare landscape by 2040 – These are namely innovative vaccines, cell therapy & regenerative medicine, tech enabled care delivery, AI & cognitive devices, 3D printing, etc. He added that Customer-centric digital health value pools are expected to grow at 22% CAGR by 2025. Digital health is likely to grow from less than 2% penetration currently to around

15% and grow at 35% CAGR. e-diagnostics, teleconsulting, e-pharmacy, B2B marketplace will comprise $31Bn online spend in 2031 while offline spend will rise to $177Bn at 9% CAGR.

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Executive Chairperson, Biocon Biologics & Executive Chairperson, Biocon Ltd, in her keynote address said that Companies that challenge the status-quo, stand out and make a mark, those that differentiate and follow a business model, which is not a me-too model and create value are the ones that succeed. She added that approvability of ideas is low in biotech, the gestation period being longer. While in IT, it is much faster. VCs need to invest in high science, bold innovative ideas and understand the risk and opportunity and know how to measure value. According to her, succeeding by taking great risks and creating value builds credibility.

The Investors’ session brought out a key insight that while looking for investors, one must begin conversation with investors early on and reach out to believers. Any business model innovation can be copied unless it is a product or tech innovation. There is no point in worrying about competition, however, talking to investors and taking their ideas and thoughts may improve one’s product.

Commenting on corporate innovations, Cipla said that it is working on Business model innovation, access of innovation, getting new technology and is partnering with smart individuals for product/science-based ideas. It is incorporating the best of the gig economy and the old economy. GE has started a start-up accelerator program and is working in genomics and pattern recognition, offering an ecosystem to startups globally while helping them launch products as well.

Explaining how they made it successful in India, health tech companies mentioned that they worked in partnership with government to build trust and affordable services in rural and far-out locations, where service was not available. Citius Tech is working with large hospitals and insurance companies in disease management and care profiles. They are using AI-ML capabilities and Analytics with global corporations to drive innovation. Companies have increased their pace of adoption enabling faster decision making.

Several Startups and Entrepreneurs were recognized and awarded at the Summit. Dr. Apoorv Ranjan Sharma from 9Unicorns awarded cash prize to the two start-ups, Pacify Medical and Aktivolabs who presented at IIMPACT Health Summit 2021. He also awarded cash prize to Aarya Banthia – Karya EECP and Aastha Mehta – Medibrace, who are entrepreneurs being mentored by Namita Thapar – Founder, YEA.