Smart money cancer bets. Dating map. Auto + health.
You’re Vital To Me Roses are red
Violets are blue
When a healthcare bill arrives
How much is actually due?
Happy Valentine’s Day! For all of us single people, here’s a study on how single people tend to have lower BMIs. It’s also a good example that you can find studies that make you feel good if you Google enough :).
When you’re only looking at your own industry, it can be hard to see what’s happening elsewhere, or the lessons to be learned from other areas.
For example, there’s a lot to learn from the CPG industry that some healthcare products are already taking a cue from. Use of targeted advertising channels and direct-to-consumer business models are all the rage in CPG, and we’re beginning to see healthcare products adopt these same strategies. This includes finding ways to differentiate a commodity product, like:
Bundling the products with services like online consultations or virtual coaching
Building a brand with content, fun colors, etc.
Personalizing the product specifically for each user
We put together a watchlist of 11 companies building direct-to-consumer health brands for expert intelligence clients here.
In terms of impacting healthcare from the side, driverless vehicles are one of the major technologies coming down the pipeline to be aware of. The advances in mobility and auto tech are already having an impact on different parts of healthcare from rewriting parts of the supply chain (especially last mile delivery) to potentially increasing the organ shortage problem down the line.
We wrote an analysis on other healthcare areas we’ll see an impact in and who’s positioned well for these changes.
BTW we have newsletters for both CPG and Auto if you want to learn more. Let me know if they’re funnier than I am.
Too Much Moolah
Here’s a problem Amgen has that I wish I had – too much money and no idea where to spend it.
“We want to deploy any excess cash and our first priority is to do acquisitions and invest in the business. We see all of these deals announced, and we participate pretty actively in considering whether to bid, but we haven’t been able to come up with a business case that would make a return for our shareholders. We will keep pushing ourselves and keep looking ourselves, because we have lots of financial flexibility.”
I admire the financial discipline here, and it’s a good example of how raising with the hopes of getting the highest valuation can dissuade acquisition prospects.
If Amgen needs some suggestions though, we analyzed some of the areas where smart money healthcare VCs are making their bets in cancer.
