(FINAL)_Temasek (Phase 5) - Longer Lifespans

Longer Lifespans

Presented by

How Reversing Climate Change Can Define Our Generation

Improvements to healthcare and living standards mean people are living longer, and a new set of challenges is flowing from this trend. Innovation, digital adoption and value-based healthcare are transforming the future of life sciences, and improving the quality of lives as we age.

WHAT

WHY

HOW

As populations attain increasingly longer lifespans, healthcare must evolve to accommodate rising costs and changing demands, while simultaneously improving broader well-being.

Longer lifespans are creating opportunities for healthcare providers to focus more on preventative measures and value-based care, with innovative detection applications and new treatment modalities.

Temasek, as a global investor, is responding to these challenges by proactively seeding and scaling innovative healthcare solutions as well as biotech collaborations to enable aging populations to lead better quality lives.

As one of the world’s greatest public health challenges, the incidence of diabetes is at an all-time high. The disease now affects about 422 million people worldwide and causes over 1.5 million deaths per year. Two in three diabetics live in Asia, with almost half of these in China and India. Diabetes increases the risk of other serious conditions such as blindness, stroke and heart attacks, with type 2 diabetes occurring most often in middle-aged and older adults. In Madurai, India, doctors at Aravind Eye Hospital have begun using a new tool to spot and prevent diabetic retinopathy, an age-related condition. Yet notably, this tool wasn’t conceived by an ophthalmologist – but by Varun Gulshan, a research scientist at Google with an interest in artificial intelligence. This innovation came about through Verily Life Sciences, the healthcare and life sciences arm of Alphabet, one of Temasek's portfolio companies. Verily transformed Varun’s machine-learning algorithm into a medical device. By integrating the algorithm into their screening process, hospital physicians gain more time to work closely with patients on early treatment – and increase the number of screenings that can be performed.

HEAT SPIKE

Humanity has heated the climate to at least a 100,000-year high. All of the warming is caused by human influence.

New Challenges and Opportunities

Demand for services and treatments for age-related medical conditions, including dementia, and neurodegenerative ones like Parkinson’s, is rising as global populations age. With longer lifespans, the focus has shifted even more to maintaining good health and a high quality of life much older ages than before. This means prioritizing behavioral health and well-being, through personalized therapies and treatments. It also means detecting and addressing unmet therapeutic needs, through cell, gene and RNA therapy, regenerative medicine and microbiome testing. Longer lifespans also necessitate a holistic approach to population health management, which includes shoring up our defenses against infectious diseases by ensuring rapid response, together with scalable diagnostics and treatments. Efforts must be made, meanwhile, to mitigate unsustainablecosts of care, while aiming to improve patient outcomes.

Financial Capital

Human Capital

Natural Capital

Social Capital

Stimulating innovation and growth

Uplifting capabilities and enhancing potential

Fostering sustainable solutions for a more liveable world

Helping to transform lives and enable resilience for a more inclusive world

Temasek’s Life Sciences portfolio has evolved in tandem with

emerging trends and technologies.

Championing Healthcare Innovation

As a generational investor, Temasek catalyzes the development of innovative healthcare solutions and next-generation therapies by identifying future healthcare champions and nurturing solutions in the life sciences sector for positive, long-term impact.

Diabetes now affects about 422 million people worldwide and causes over 1.5 million deaths per year.

The pandemic highlighted the need to improve healthcare systems and quality outcomes for patients.

Temasek identifies future healthcare champions.

One of its portfolio companies, Luxembourg-headquartered BenevolentAI, for example, uses AI-powered computational technology to uncover new ways of treating disease. Using conventional methods, it usually takes eight years for researchers to discover a chemical compound that is promising enough to begin clinical trials, and hopefully, develop a new drug. Yet BenevolentAI’s AI platform was able to identify arthritis drug baricitinib as a potential Covid-19 treatment over the course of a weekend, demonstrating the power of AI in speedily optimizing drug discovery and treatments.

Temasek also focuses on underserved areas, such as developing therapies for infectious diseases. Investments in this area focus on bolstering the ecosystem by tackling infectious diseases at various stages, from detection and treatment to protection. San Francisco-headquartered Vir Biotechnology is a portfolio company that combines immunologic insights with cutting-edge technologies to treat and prevent serious infectious disease, including, most notably, advanced clinical trials for hepatitis B.

Behavioral health and personalization are other areas of special attention for Temasek. Woebot, which Temasek has invested in, uses AI to assess behavioral health needs and develop tailored treatments, again demonstrating the transformative role of technology as healthcare systems rapidly evolve to meet the needs of tomorrow.

”People are living longer, and this means increased healthcare demand to ensure they continue to lead healthy, fulfilling lives.”

Catalyzing Change with Digital Health

Covid-19 revealed global gaps in healthcare, including inadequate pandemic response and structural flaws that contribute to unsustainable costs. At the same time, the pandemic also accelerated the development of emerging technologies with the potential to bridge these gaps and redefine the future of healthcare. A nascent yet promising area, digital health experienced saw rapid development and adoption during the pandemic, as users saw the benefits of virtual consultation, diagnosis and treatment, with the option of remote monitoring. Temasek investee Cue Health’s integrated care platform, for example, aims to provide lab-quality testing that can be administered at home or in other non-clinical settings, over a range of areas including respiratory, sexual and cardiometabolic health.

Data and analytics are further enhancing the entire healthcare system, from more efficient research and development and clinical trial processes to better software infrastructure in hospitals. This also enables an ongoing shift in healthcare from a reactive care system that treats people after they fall sick, to a proactive and pre-emptive one. Innovators in the space include Verily, which develops tools and platforms to collect health data in the hope of detecting, preventing and improving the management of diseases. Other new technologies are creating novel solutions to address previously unmet needs or improving existing approaches. For example, Pear Therapeutics delivers prescription digital therapeutics, or software-based medicines, that treat serious disease, such as opioid use disorder and chronic insomnia.

The pandemic accelerated the development of emerging technologies.

Data and analytics are further enhancing the entire healthcare system.

The Road Ahead

As aging populations across Asia put healthcare in the spotlight, more than three out of every four insurers anticipate higher or significantly higher medical costs over the next three years. Going beyond medication and digital innovation to delivering affordable and accessible healthcare, value-based care is now gaining momentum. With this paradigm shift, providers will be paid based on patient health outcomes, rather than a pay-per-visit model. Ultimately, this promises higher quality care at a lower cost, as data is used more effectively to guide individual clinical decisions. Collectively, the digitalization of business models and the emergence of innovative solutions promise to enable a shift toward affordable, value-based care. Temasek is optimistic on this trend, and is actively investing in the development of innovative healthcare solutions and pivotal next-generation therapies to meet the needs of our aging population.

More Articles in Our Series

learn more

Solving Global Food Production Challenges

ARTICLE

Coming soon

Investing in Sustainable Solutions

ARTICLE

Coming soon

Driving Change in a Digital World

ARTICLE

Coming soon

Innovating the Future of Consumption

ARTICLE

Coming soon

1. https://www.ipcc.ch/ 2. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-08-09/ipcc-report-human-caused-climate-change-unequivocal 3. https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/sites/2/2019/06/SR15_Headline-statements.pdf 4. https://www.temasekreview.com.sg/our-stories/the-race-against-the-clock-to-net-zero.html 5. https://eqtgroup.com/news/2020/eqt-and-temasek-launch-o2-power-a-renewable-energy-platform-in-india 6. https://eqtgroup.com/news/2020/eqt-and-temasek-launch-o2-power-a-renewable-energy-platform-in-india 7. https://svanteinc.com/svante-raises-75-million-to-decarbonize-cement-and-hydrogen-production/ 8. https://svanteinc.com/svante-raises-75-million-to-decarbonize-cement-and-hydrogen-production/ 9. https://www.ecosperity.sg/ 10. https://www.temasek.com.sg/en/news-and-views/news-room/news/2021/temasek-review-2021-bounce-forward 11. https://www.temasekreview.com.sg/our-stories/the-race-against-the-clock-to-net-zero.html

Footnotes

More Articles in Our Series

Can Define Our Generation

The Opportunities of Longevity

*PLACEHOLDER TO INSERT HEAT SPIKE INFOGRAPHICS

More Articles in Our Series

AI-POWERED TREATMENTS

INFECTIOUS DISEASE THERAPIES

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH

1. Medical News Today 2. World Health Organization 3. Diabetes Care 4. Nature 5. Verily 6. World Health Organization 7. World Bank 8. Forbes 9. Temasek 10. Barrons 11. WTWCO

This innovation came about thanks to Verily Life Sciences, the healthcare and life sciences research arm of Alphabet – and one of global investor, Temasek’s, portfolio companies. Verily transformed Varun’s machine-learning algorithm into a medical device. By integrating the algorithm into their screening process, hospital physicians gain more time to work closely with patients on early treatment – and increase the number of screenings that can be performed.

Longer Lifespans: A Global Trend

Verily’s diagnostic device, and many other smart devices like it, underscores the vital role of technology and innovation for the future of healthcare. Such tools will prove vital in addressing issues that arise as people live longer. Thanks to medical breakthroughs, broader healthcare access and better living conditions, global life expectancy increased by more than six years between 2000 and 2019, from 66.8 years to 73.4 years. Despite the pandemic, global life expectancy at birth now tops 70 years for men and 75 years for women, with overall average life expectancy projected to reach 77 years by 2050 and 82 years by 2100.

“People are living longer, and this means increased healthcare demand to ensure they continue to lead healthy, fulfilling lives,” said Dr. Fidah Alsagoff, Head of Life Sciences and Joint Head of Enterprise Development Group (Singapore), Temasek. “At the same time, the pandemic has exacerbated pressure on healthcare systems and highlighted the need to improve quality outcomes for patients. This has brought into focus new opportunities driven by technology, such as digital health and new treatment modalities – which have the potential to transform how healthcare is delivered.”

Increased from

66.8 years

Global Life Expectancy

for men and

for women.

70 years

Global Life Expectancy at Birth

Projected to reach

77 years

overall average life expectancy

in 2000 to

73.4 years

75 years

by 2050 and

82 years

by 2100.

Smart devices underscore the vital role of technology and innovation for the future of healthcare.

Over the years, Temasek’s Life Sciences portfolio has evolved in tandem with emerging trends and technologies. With the advancement of artificial intelligence and machine learning, Temasek sees rich opportunities in tech-enabled healthcare, such as accelerating drug discovery.

Dr. Fidah Alsagoff

Head of Life Sciences and Joint Head of Enterprise Development Group (Singapore), Temasek

An extensive network and diverse portfolio in life sciences, as well as global connectivity with like-minded partners, enables Temasek to foster collaboration across its global portfolio and within Singapore’s thriving life sciences scene. Germany-based BioNTech, an investee company of Temasek, is establishing its Southeast Asia regional headquarters in Singapore, and building a fully integrated mRNA manufacturing facility with support from Singapore’s Economic Development Board. The new facility will provide regional and global supply capacity of BioNTech’s growing pipeline of mRNA-based product candidates, as well as a rapid response production capability for Southeast Asia to address potential pandemic threats.

Actively Building Ecosystems to Enable Collaboration

Temasek fosters collaboration across its global portfolio and Singapore’s thriving life sciences scene.

Temasek also builds new platforms to develop functional capabilities across the healthcare value chain, facilitate innovation and better enable an integrated healthcare ecosystem. Its subsidiary, Singapore-based Sheares Healthcare Group, was set up in 2014 as an investor and provider of innovative, patient-focused healthcare services in Asia and beyond. Over the years, Sheares Healthcare has built up a wide-reaching portfolio of healthcare companies, including Iora Health, a US-based primary care provider; Manipal Hospitals, a leading multi-specialty private healthcare provider in India; and Homage, a Singapore-based start-up operating regionally that matches older adults with caregivers through its technology platform. Sheares Healthcare also extended its capabilities and resources to support the early pandemic response in Singapore, and was involved in planning and building community care facilities and high-density treatment facilities to ease the strain on the healthcare system.

Temasek also builds new platforms to develop functional capabilities across the healthcare value chain.

in 2019.

Diabetes now affects about 422 million people worldwide and causes over 1.5 million deaths per year.

Longer Lifespans: A Global Trend

The pandemic highlighted the need to improve healthcare systems and quality outcomes for patients.

For some, such a situation might feel overwhelming and insurmountable. Yet, it is unrivalled as a call for collective action. By marshalling as one united force, we have a chance to steer our planet towards a more secure and resilient direction. “There are many possible futures,” acknowledges Steve Howard, Temasek's Chief Sustainability Officer. “We could have runaway climate change – or we could be the generation that ends global warming.” In order to address the scale of the climate crisis at pace and make a serious dent in our collective carbon footprint, industries must step up to the plate and make immediate bold changes in how we build, travel and do business. One key to this will be accelerating the pace of innovation in sustainable technologies and solutions, to help pave the way towards a net zero world. Temasek actively seeks to fund opportunities that have the potential to address such key global challenges. It sees its capital as catalytic.

Temasek identifies future healthcare champions.

Dr. Fidah Alsagoff

Chief Investment Officer and Head, Southeast Asia, Temasek

Data and analytics are further enhancing the entire healthcare system.

The pandemic accelerated the development of emerging technologies.

Actively Building Ecosystems to Enable Collaboration