E633 | EUCVC Summit 2025: Anne C. Fleischer (Novo Nordisk) & Henrijette Richter (Sofinnova Partners): Innovation in Health

0:00The next wave of health innovation is being shaped at the intersection of AI, deep tech, and strategic corporate investment. Joining us to explore this frontier are Anne C. Fleischer, Global VP of Consumer Engagement and New Business Models at Novo Nordisk, and Henriette Richter, Managing Partner at Sofinova Partners, one of Europe's leading life sciences venture firms. Together, they'll discuss how corporates are backing cutting-edge solutions in digital health, the role of AI in transforming patient care, and what it takes to turn scientific breakthroughs into scalable business models. Curious how corporates and VCs are shaping the future of health?

0:44Here we are on stage. I'm proud. Two former colleagues of mine. Henrietta from Sunstone Life Science Ventures. Annie from Leo Eilat. That was a pleasure. Annie, you work with Norbu Norris today. How do you think about beyond the pill models? What role does digital health and AI play in reshaping the future? It plays a very, very big role. So in Novo Nordisk, we have launched a couple of very, very good DLP1 treatments for mainly obesity and people living with diabetes. And it's very clear that we need to look at treatment is much more personalized than having simply just one medication. So how do we personalize?

1:38We do that by simply looking at people's preferences and their behavior. So imagine, you know, having maybe two women in the mid-40s having excess weight, wanting to lose maybe 50 pounds. It can be very different how you approach that lifestyle change. one woman can have really a lot of steps in their daily life the other woman can be really good at eating a lot of proteins but we never know, right? So to make personalized treatment advice we need to understand them much better and understand their preferences and this is where AI play a huge role both in how we approach people with information, awareness how we look at their risk profiles how we profile them for treatment, and then when they are on treatment, how we make their best possible outcomes.

2:33Henrietta, you have continued your investor role for now many years with Sofinova Partners. So from an investor perspective, what separates the most fundable AI-driven health opportunities from those that are still more science projects than business? Yeah, it's a good question. So, you know, at Sofinova, we have a fund which is exclusively focusing on this area. And what they're looking for, maybe sort of key things. One is a clear demand. So we say in biotech drug development, we sell products, right? But in AI, you sell utility. And so we need to see a clear view of that utility, a clear demand already, a path to a buyer, a path to an income relatively fast compared to traditional biotech.

3:29We also, very importantly, want to see very strong license agreement. And what do I mean about that? Strong data, exclusivity to data. But more importantly or equally important is the ability to reuse the data you're generating. So, in fact, you need to get the data back from the user in order to also improve your model. and continually work on becoming better. And then we need to see the distribution channels, right? You really need to see how your software integrates into already established paths. That's important. Yeah. And which AI-enabled care areas are closest to real-world integration today?

4:11Because we hear so much about the AI, right? Where are you? Yeah. So I think we have recognized in Novo Nordisk what we are good at and where we want to look at the ecosystem for help. So we just launched what we would call a partner platform where startups can connect with us. Maybe they have an SDK or an API, maybe on a body composition scanner or something like that. We want to take that technology and make that available for millions of people. We know that we would never be able to develop such a cool feature ourselves, but many others would. So for us, it's important to be able to connect with the wider ecosystem because that's where we see synergies.

4:51We are good at scaling, but other companies are much better at innovation and making it alive. So that has been our approach to ensure that we can scale fast, but also to ensure that all the good startups that are out there get the reach they need. And that is where I think collaboration across those who invest and us who can help scale can be a really, really good mix. And that's definitely something that differs between life sciences and the pure tech world, right? That is the need for collaboration. Henrietta, how does such a successful and effective collaboration look like in your eyes? Yeah, and I do want to say I think today in biotech we do need the collaboration with pharma as well.

5:39But you're right, I think this area started out in a different way than biotech did, right? So in order for our companies to scale, and I think you said it as well, and you need to have sort of a multi-country strategy, we kind of say a global approach from day one, which is also one of Europe's strengths. We are kind of a small continent, and yet it's quite diverse. So within a reach, you can get some very diversified data, which is going to enable you to scale very fast. Then there's the collaboration with pharma, and it comes back to the distribution channels. You need to tap in immediately to the established channels.

6:18You can't go and invent one yourself. There's no one-off because that really blocks you from scaling very fast. And you kind of need to scale already without the, you know, think about it the first 12 months and then come on to the scaling. And you can only achieve that by tapping into the right labs, the right distribution channels, and be sort of where they have already been established. Annie, could you share a little bit on this also? Yeah, and I think we have seen other people on stage who actually know the magic between startups and corporates, right, and who can speak both languages. And I would say that is really the key to make it work because you can easily end up in the wrong email or in the wrong mailbox, right?

7:01So for startups, it's a matter of finding that match the right place in the organization. and for the corporates, it's about being willing to take some risks because only when we kind of all lean into it, we can make the magic work. So there's unfortunately too many times where it didn't work because of those reasons. And maybe also breaking a little bit into how far can technology take us and the consumerization of health, right? How far can we go without breaking trust, privacy or clinical trials? Yeah, so I'm watching this a lot, you know, following the trends. And I think we believe that we are in a trend right now, our time of our life, which is called the impatience economy.

7:49That means that people are willing to take chances. You know, what we would see as consumers, they're willing to go for alternatives, even buy, you know, products on the pharmacy that were never under-regulated processes. So what does that tell us? that tells us that people are willing to invest in their health. And it also tells us that we need maybe to be the part in that equation that ensures trust and ensures that people can rely on products coming out of the factories. But, of course, we can learn a lot from the more consumer-heavy brands, both from fast-moving consumer goods, but also from the tech giants who day by day innovate for better user experience.

8:33So trust. Trust. I'm going to break you off here. And I'm out of time. In the break, Henriette, I want to ask, you know, just as we walk down, what excites you most in health innovation right now? Single word answer. Specificity for patients. Thank you so much.