Michael Wright, Guy's and St Thomas Charity, "Partnership directed investing" - slides from Journeys of Health-Tech Innovation: Products to Market

1. Partnership directed
investing
Journey’s of Health-Tech
Innovation: Getting product into
the Market
30 November 2015
Michael Wright
Head of Health Investment
Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity
@GSTTCharity

2. Context: the Charity
— Long history – since 1553
— Independent
— Endowment of c.£600m –
spend c.£20m every year
— ‘Catalyst for innovation’ –
invest in ideas with the
potential for radically better
outcomes
— Moving from being a reactive
grant maker to proactive
investor in health
— Recognise that funding is not
enough – need to help shape
the local innovation ecology

3. A quick heads up…
— We invest our own money
– Primarily equity, very occasionally debt
— Smallest deal - £75,000
— Largest deal - £573,000 (staged investment)
— Sole investor or as part of a syndicate (prefer to
follow, but will lead)
— Commercial and social enterprises
— Must be health or social care related, but not drug
development

4. Why do we invest and where do our deals
come from?
— Why do we invest? Charities give grants don’t
they? Well yes, but…
– Many transformational technologies can
only be developed by companies
– Companies are the most effective scale up
technology known
— Our deals come from:
– From within our own health system
– Companies applying for grant funding
– Relationships with accelerator programmes
– Collaborations with our health partners

5. General criterion, deal selection
— There must be an opportunity to build
links with the local health or social
care system:
– Must be capable of entering into
productive relationships
– It is not a sales opportunity, but a
partnership play
– Our partners must want or value
the relationship with the company
— This partnership model improves
opportunities for successful innovation
— We follow the pack on most other
selection criterion
— Amongst others, we work with:
– Lambeth and Southwark CCG’S
– Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS
Foundation Trust
– South London and Maudsley
NHS Foundation Trust
– Local GP practices
– Lambeth and Southwark
Councils

6. Benefits of partnership led investing
— Confirmation of the validity of the problem
being solved
“Its easy to think that you know the problem”
— Understanding the real evidence gaps, and the
real barriers to adoption
– Plan for adoption, what are the real
changes that are required?
— Understand the potential impact on the entire
patient pathway (not just the bit related to the
innovation)
– Avoids cost shifting

7. We don’t just write cheques, we are an
activist investor…
— We work with investees outside of formal meetings
– Seek to build a strong relationship with the
founders
— We focus on:
– Building good governance
– introductions to other investors, advisors
– Building relationships with health professionals
– Doing the detailed work: contracts, licenses,
employment agreements, trademark
applications etc.
— We don’t overstay our welcome

8. What can you do to ease the pain?
— We value the relationship with our partners, we do
not handout names, email addresses, phone
numbers etc.
— It is possible to partner with the NHS if you plan it
appropriately.
– Incremental improvement is a hard sell, savings
of £100,000’s are not very interesting when your
budget is £900m+
– It costs money to decommission activities
– Adoption is more than just buying a bit of kit
– The supply chain is complex, at Guy’s and St
Thomas’ we carry over 30,000 items…
– Is the gain worth the pain?

9. Thank you
Email: michael.wright@gsttcharity.org.uk
www gsttcharity.org.uk
@GSTTCharity