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Virtual training and education has never been more important. Even before COVID-19, Osso VR identified a training gap for surgeons, nurses, OR staff, and surgical sales reps in North America. They created a technology to address the surgical training gap which uses virtual reality to improve patient outcomes, increase the adoption of higher-value medical technologies and provide access to critical education globally.    On today’s episode of the platform, we discuss the business of Osso VR with its founder and practicing orthopedic surgeon, Justin Barad, MD. Justin chats with Erica and Adam about the evolution of his business from its embryonic phase to its current stage as a growing and well-funded technology company.

On today's episode of The Platform, we learn about angel and venture investing in the life sciences sector. Randy Thompson, Chairman and CEO of Valhalla Private Capital, gives us a window into the inner workings of venture capital funds and also provides listeners with valuable advice for fundraising in today's business environment.

In this episode of The Platform, Lise Pape, Founder and Managing Director of Walk With Path joins us to discuss how this new laser shoe technology is paving the way for people living with Parkinson’s Disease. As the company begins to seek investment, you’ll hear about the concept, the numbers, and the opportunity.

Edward Cox, the Global Head of Digital Medicine and Executive VP of Strategic Alliances at Eversana, discusses current trends in the life sciences industry and the future of digital therapeutics.

Globally, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) has invested more than $23 million US towards the development of a vaccine for COVID-19 and, as of now, it is expected that around 20 companies have potential medicines in various stages of development, with at least four existing medicines now in late-phase clinical trials. Meanwhile, there are around fifty projects exploring a variety of vaccine technologies, many of them industry/academia collaborations, and the most advanced entering early phase clinical trials... But what does this all mean? And when can we expect to see a vaccine? We chat with Dr. Beatrice Setnik of Altasciences to uncover the timeline and process in getting a vaccine to market. To learn more about Altasciences please visit https://www.altasciences.com/

Today’s guest is Nicholas Hall. He is the Executive Chairman, Founder, and Creative Solutions Director at Nicholas Hall Group of Companies. [0:28] What is your background and what has your career path looked like? I was the typical Proctor & Gamble intern after university. I didn’t think my degree in politics would take me into business, but it did. I started my company not because I had any great vision, but because I’d been in big companies for eleven years and wanted to go into a small one. We specialize in consumer healthcare, mainly in sales and marketing. I spend most of my time travelling the world and working with companies who want to improve what they do. [2:09] What does creative solutions mean to you? True innovation involves products, but we go beyond that. We look for innovation in everything from positioning, pricing, formulation, channel distribution, and more. It’s telling companies that there might be a better way to do what they’re doing. [5:09] What are the differences between global OTC markets? The US is growing at about 2% because of things such as lack of consumer confidence. Europe is also growing about 2%, but there are lots of subsidizations which takes way some growth potential. Asia is doing okay. However, the strongest markets are Mexico, Turkey, etc. [8:32] Some countries seem to have a very large interest in North American and European products. Why is that? Because of a high degree of local contamination, China has a lot of interest in these products. Chinese students abroad often take suitcases home full of OTC products. There’s a huge cross-border trade out of Hong Kong now. [12:17] What seem to be the highest sellers right now? Allergies have been a fantastic market in the past few years because the number of them has increased. There’s a very high growth in topical pain relief as consumers are concerned about popping tablets. The most exciting part is brands that have come into the market and found a totally different way to communicate. [16:31] Is social media a big factor in some of the marketing success? The jury’s out on that one. All the big companies have appointed digital marketing officers and are moving money into social media. I’m still not convinced. This rush into digital marketing might be a bit fast. [19:47] Do you see other therapeutic areas being a target for Rx to OTC switches? The obvious switches have already been done, and there aren’t many left. Some pharmaceutical products, although they make sense for a doctor, won’t bring additional benefits into the consumer market. Switching is very much a US phenomenon, but they’ve had a lack of these in the past two years. [25:13] Is there anything we haven’t touched on today that you’d like listeners to know? The importance of the pharmacist is a re-emerging trend. We’re finding that in most parts of the world, the pharmacist is becoming much more involved in giving advice. I think this is going to be one of the most important drivers of the future. There are also companies growing quickly and acquiring each other. The market is in a state of great change at the moment and it’s an exciting place to do business.

In this episode, Adam and Erica are joined by Jim Gale, the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Signet Healthcare Partners. He talks about the state of growth capital in the healthcare industry and how to access it. [1:47] Tell us a little bit about yourself. I graduated from the University of Chicago Business School in the early 80s and began working in investment banking. With some friends of mine who were senior executives of a fund, we started Signet in 1998. Since then, we’ve invested in over fifty companies. My background is in finance, and health sciences was originally not an area I had much interest in. [5:33] What do you think pharma can learn from other industries? In B2B, the idea is quality of service. It’s about understanding customer needs and adapting your services around that. For the B2C world, the pharmaceutical industry has become customer-oriented over the past twenty-five years. It’s not all science related. It’s about conveying the benefits of products to consumers. [8:50] We’ve seen a lot of large companies swallow up smaller ones over the past couple of decades. Do you think it’s because smaller organizations are getting better at marketing, or do you think it’s just a market share play? I suppose it’s a combination of both. What’s really driving M&A in pharmaceuticals now is that a number of large companies have products coming off patent that are facing genericization. Smaller companies tend to be nimbler in terms of research because of a simpler decision-making process. [11:19] At what point do you look to invest in an organization? We are a growth equity firm, not a venture capital firm. We don’t invest in companies that are pre-commercialization. Typically, we’re looking for some evidence or validation that the service or product have receptivity in the marketplace. [13:23] Your portfolio seems to be a bit vertically integrated. Is that a strategic factor for you when you’re looking to bring another organization into it? In part, yes. We like to have a mix of companies that aren’t all involved in the same activity. We balance it geographically or by function. To invest in the creation of products, we invest in companies that “sell picks and shovels to the miners.” We like to get companies to work together. That way, we can provide opportunities that they might not otherwise have. [16:05] What other factors are pertinent to the success of your portfolios? Well, I can tell you what doesn’t work for us. We’ve had some failures. We interact closely with our companies, but one in China was too far away so we weren’t as effective as we should have been. Another company we invested in, the launch did not go well. Nobody there was able to make a decision. Success comes to us when we have a strong measure of control over a company. We want to make sure that financial information is rapidly produced so we can be proactive instead of reactive. [22:10] How can companies who are seeking investment get in touch with you? They can reach us through the contact form on our website. A large part of our business comes from referrals. [23:09] Is there anything we didn’t touch on that you’d like to discuss? The pharmaceutical industry is going through another renaissance. There are technologies coming that will transform lives. We’re going to be forced to re-think how we pay for drugs. Issues and investment opportunities will be created.