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play a critical role in enabling the necessary structural changes to the healthcare system. The
HITECH Act created a $25.9 billion!? Federal Government funded catalyst for the adoption of
information technology in healthcare in the U.S., and this is stimulating significant investment
in upgrading the information infrastructure at the provider level. This industry-wide
technology upgrade moves the vast majority of providers onto electronic systems, which offers
immediate efficiencies to their businesses and lays the foundation for the adoption of new
targeted information based applications in the future. These investments and legislative actions
by the U.S. government, and the subsequent response by insurers, providers and patients, are
driving a dramatic increase in spending on healthcare information technology (HIT), benefitting
the companies providing technology solutions that reduce cost and waste, drive efficiency, and
improve the quality of patient care.
The opportunity in information convergence also benefits significantly from the technologies
and infrastructure that have been developed and implemented outside of healthcare, such as
cloud computing, wireless communications, web-delivered software-as-a-service, and sensor
technology. Small companies drawing heavily off these existing technologies are able to
optimize their product through rapid iterations driven by user feedback, thereby reducing risk
and capital requirements, and leading to more predictable timelines, similar to what has been
seen in the broader information technology arena. The Fund Managers believe that smaller,
focused companies will play a key role in developing and deploying information based
products that address discrete problems within the U.S. healthcare market, and that a large
number of these will be compelling investment opportunities for NLV-IIL.
Medical Devices: Given the Fund Managers’ view that the operating and exit environment for
companies in this sector will be more challenging due to increased regulatory and
reimbursement uncertainty, NLV-III will have somewhat less exposure to this sector than
previous funds. The Fund will focus on investments in companies that are developing
innovative and differentiated medical devices, targeting large market opportunities that offer
the potential to meaningfully reduce overall patient treatment costs in high morbidity disease
settings through substantial efficacy and safety benefits versus existing standards of care.
Importantly, the focus will be on opportunities that have established regulatory approval
pathways and clear regulatory precedents, or are already at the commercial stage at the time of
initial investment. The objective will be to identify investment opportunities with later stage
risk profiles that can be expected to thrive in the current environment. Although the number of
deals in this sector is likely to be somewhat lower than in previous funds, with the later stage
focus, it is likely that the size of investments in this sector will be larger.
Biological Research Tools & Infrastructure: The rapid growth of this sector is being fuelled by
many of the same biomedical advances that are impacting health care more broadly, such as
personalized medicine and DNA sequencing. Smaller companies have always been a prolific
source of innovative new research tools, leading to high M&A interest among the large
commercial players in this sector. Moreover, because new reagents and research tools are not
subject to the risks of clinical trials, regulatory approvals or payer reimbursement it is possible
to build high-gross margins businesses that reach break-even on manageable timelines and
budgets. The Fund will approach this sector opportunistically and will seek to invest in a small
Bus. Department of Health and Human Services. Actuarial estimate as of January 2012.
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