Obesity can be eradicated: Currently, 2.5 billion people worldwide are overweight, with 890 million classified as obese. This leads to significant comorbidities, increased NHS costs, and complex social challenges. Despite these issues, there is real optimism that obesity can be eradicated through a combination of GLP-1 drugs, lifestyle changes, and bariatric surgery. While medication plays a critical role, it is not a complete solution on its own.

Obesity can be eradicated: Currently, 2.5 billion people worldwide are overweight, with 890 million classified as obese. This leads to significant comorbidities, increased NHS costs, and complex social challenges. Despite these issues, there is real optimism that obesity can be eradicated through a combination of GLP-1 drugs, lifestyle changes, and bariatric surgery. While medication plays a critical role, it is not a complete solution on its own.

Treatment Optionality:
A personalised approach is essential. The needs of obese patients are highly complex, often involving multiple comorbidities and mental health challenges. There is no one-size-fits-all treatment plan—flexibility in treatment options is key.

Scalability:
The challenge lies in meeting the enormous demand for treatment. Scaling up drug production, improving access, and ensuring safe delivery—particularly given the need for close monitoring—are crucial to addressing this issue.

Cost and Prioritisation:
NHS resources are limited, forcing difficult decisions on prioritisation. Current policy focuses on prescribing these drugs only to patients with severe comorbidities. As a result, many are left with no option but to seek private treatment, sometimes going to extreme measures like remortgaging their homes. For those pursuing private options, safety is paramount—accessing the wrong medication can have long-term consequences.

Reactive vs Preventative:
Currently, obesity drugs are prescribed only to those with serious concurrent conditions. However, we should also explore preventive use for younger individuals at risk. This could follow the same trajectory as statins, which were once reserved for heart attack patients but are now widely used for prevention.

Safety:
GLP-1 drugs are considered safe and have undergone intense scrutiny due to their transformative effects—not just on weight loss but also on related conditions. While patient-reported outcomes have been largely positive, ongoing vigilance is essential.

Long-term Efficacy:
The long-term effectiveness of GLP-1 drugs remains uncertain. How long should they be taken? In some cases, could they become a lifelong treatment? Bariatric surgery, by contrast, has shown sustained weight-loss maintenance post-surgery.

The Future:
We can hope for improved access, greater efficacy (potentially increasing from 20% to 30% weight loss), and enhanced convenience—such as fewer injections or the shift from injectables to pills.

Verdict:
The eradication of obesity within the next decade seems plausible through a combination of treatments. GLP-1 drugs will be part of the solution, but not the entire answer. Access to a range of treatments and comprehensive, wraparound care will be essential for patients to achieve lasting, lifelong results.

Shift in definition: Dementia is no longer the inevitable sign of getting old, it’s a disease you can now diagnose early, at a stage when it is typically silent.

Shift in definition: Dementia is no longer the inevitable sign of getting old, it’s a disease you can now diagnose early, at a stage when it is typically silent.

Early detection is a gamechanger: Early diagnosis and treatment are crucial for better outcomes. Advances in diagnostic tools, such as blood biomarkers, are making it easier to identify patients at risk earlier. This allows a shift towards “ screening for dementia” and “screening for brain health”, the same way we screen for cholesterol or cancer.

Better diagnostic will improve discovery: This enhanced diagnostic capability will lead to better research - and hopefully therapeutic breakthroughs. There isn’t a viable cure yet: Recent years have seen significant advancements in dementia research, particularly in diagnostic biomarkers and new therapies like amyloid-lowering drugs. However, there are still many challenges to overcome in drug development.

Social care needs to keep up with scientific advancements: with large sections of the population diagnosed earlier, the emphasis should be on responsive and individualised care for people with dementia. Collaboration between health services, social care, and voluntary organisations is essential.

Tech Bio vs Biotech: The distinction between tech bio and biotech often comes down to speed and capital requirements. Tech bio companies can leverage AI and other technologies to accelerate processes like drug discovery, while biotech companies may require more capital and longer development times.

Tech Bio vs Biotech: The distinction between tech bio and biotech often comes down to speed and capital requirements. Tech bio companies can leverage AI and other technologies to accelerate processes like drug discovery, while biotech companies may require more capital and longer development times.

What startups need to be successful

A differentiated story: You don’t need to be perfect, but you need to be differentiated enough.

Focus on output not input: Emphasise the end results and potential impact of your work, rather than just detailing the processes and efforts involved.

“Founder market fit” Investors look for founders who are uniquely qualified to tackle the specific challenges of their chosen market.

Use gravity, don’t do everything on your own: leverage existing networks, resources, and expertise to build momentum.

The UK remains a strong place to raise capital, with good momentum and a vibrant investment ecosystem. It is still the most active country for investment in Europe. Anecdotally, venture capital firms from New York City are now choosing to invest in London instead of San Francisco, citing the UK as offering "better value for better companies".

Preventative medicine is very backable: Preventative care is one of the most backable areas in healthcare today. Due to the healthcare systems being overstretched, the only way to manage this pressure is through private sector investment in preventative care. However, it’s key to identify who the customer is, who will pay for the service, and how quickly the company can acquire customers.