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ICR Healthcare: What’s In Store for ‘24

By ICR Healthcare
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We asked our colleagues at ICR Healthcare to share their thoughts on what the key themes will be for our industry, what everyone is going to be talking about at the 2024 JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, with a US lens and, most important of all, where to eat in San Francisco.

Our contributors

Michael O’Brien, Partner, Public Relations

Terri Clevenger, Partner, Public Relations

Sean Leous, SVP, Media Relations, Public Relations

Mark Corbae, Managing Director, Public Relations

Kate Coyle, Managing Director, Public Relations

Jordan Kohnstam, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations

Caroline Corner, Partner, Investor Relations

Jack Powell, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations

Mike Vallie, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations

  1. What are you most looking forward to/hoping for from JP Morgan?
  • What’s attendance looking like? Jefferies’ Healthcare conference in London in November and other investor conferences were extremely well attended in H2 2023, so what level of attendance will we see this year in SF?
  • What’s hot? Seeing which companies emerge as the talk of the town, and why. What deals will unfold on Monday morning? Which breakthroughs will be hot on the heels of those in 2023? We are certainly curious about which companies or topics will gain the most attention and set the agenda for the forthcoming year.
  • Gauging the biopharma zeitgeist as 2024 begins. The overall mood at last year’s conference was good to glum. While attendees’ financial outlook for the sector is harder to predict, one expects it will be more optimistic than in January 2023 with hopefully a continued hot M&A market and an IPO window that opens and creates a buoyant healthcare market.
  1. What’s everyone going to be talking about?
  • JPM, as it is most years but more so this year, will be viewed as a barometer of the industry’s health. What will the diagnosis be for 2024?
  • When does the IPO window open? Who will be first? Who has no business trying?
  • Funding: Creativity is the name of the game.
  • Valuations
  • M&A and strategic partnerships
  • The overall outlook for “growth” stocks: in the healthcare sector as it relates to the shift in the market’s sentiment towards topline growth vs. profitability as a corporate strategy.
  • And, of course, let’s see how fast the rumors will start about JPM moving to another city next year!
  1. Top predictions for the healthcare industry for 2024
  • GPL-1s: will continue to show efficacy in health conditions beyond weight loss/obesity and diabetes. Data on improvements in heart health, mental illness, and other disease states will drive uptake of these medications and continue to put pressure on payers. A fight is looming. Who will win?
  • CNS: is having a moment. New and promising Alzheimer’s treatments are hitting the market as well as differentiated drugs in other areas of neuroscience. More interest and investment in ’24.
  • Biosimilars: Numerous biosimilars for blockbuster drugs will be available soon in the US. Let’s see if Americans are ready and how originator product companies respond.
  • Therapeutic oligonucleotides: The demand for therapeutic oligos has grown rapidly in recent years due to advancements in precision medicine and their efficacy in not only treating diseases – but providing actual cures.
  • Women’s Healthcare will begin to gain traction and funding during a very tumultuous election year.
  • GenAI: will continue to be front and center, though its benefits will remain largely undefined, mysterious and in some case threatening, to health care providers and patients. Look for AI-enhanced advances in drug development, especially, to garner coverage.
  • Macro policy: A single Federal Reserve reduction in the interest rate, modest as it may be, will trigger financing activity, as that will signal rate stabilization.
  • M&A in 2024: who wins and who walks away? Including:
    1. How many digital health companies do we need?
    2. Will the health insurance industry consolidate more?
  • How will big pharma and big bio continue to fill their pipelines
  • Drug shortages: what will that look like in 2024?  Can we allow hospitals to run out of oncology drugs?
  • mRNA: COVID-19 vaccines were just the tipping point for messenger RNA (mRNA) technology. We have officially entered the golden age of mRNA as the advantages of this technology are being harnessed for drug discovery across diverse therapeutic fields.
  • Patient-centric clinical trials: More and more clinical trials will be designed with a more patient-centric approach. Decentralized and virtual clinical trials capable of reducing patient burdens are a trend that is continuing to grow.
  • Generics: is there any consolidation left? Who will win and can small players sustain their business based on low profit margins?
  • Financing models: the “next” SPAC-type vehicle.
  1. Tips and advice on the best places to eat in San Francisco between meetings or around the conference?

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