Swiss Healthcare Champion Sees Market Improvement
«The global healthcare sector is once again moving back into investors’ strategic focus. After a phase marked by political uncertainty and volatile valuations, attention is shifting back to fundamentals,» explains Marcel Fritsch, Head of Healthcare Funds & Mandates at Bellevue Asset Management.
The J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference 2026 in San Francisco – the most important investor conference for the healthcare sector at the start of the year – conveyed a picture of growing stabilization. One of the conference’s key signals was a noticeable easing of concerns around price regulation, particularly in the United States. Leading pharmaceutical companies reported that recent agreements with the US government are viewed as limited in scope and largely manageable.
This, says Marcel Fritsch, Head of Healthcare Funds & Mandates at Bellevue Asset Management, creates greater planning certainty for the coming years and reduces a key macro risk. According to Fritsch, changes are also emerging in Europe: «Political pressure is growing to adequately remunerate medical innovation, particularly for new product launches. As a result, companies are gaining negotiating power, and market entry strategies are being managed more actively. Pricing issues are thus losing their dominant influence on valuations, while innovation and commercial execution are moving further into the foreground.»
Biotech: Operational progress underpins sentiment
In the biotech and pharmaceutical sector, according to the Zurich-based healthcare specialist, the focus was less on takeover speculation and more on operational progress. «After a pronounced M&A phase last year, the conference was relatively quiet in terms of new deals, but the operational signals were broadly constructive,» he says. Preliminary financial figures and updated outlooks provided a stabilizing effect.
From an investor perspective, Fritsch highlights visible progress in product launches and pipelines as decisive. BridgeBio demonstrated growing market traction with Attruby in the treatment of ATTR cardiomyopathy and has several near-term clinical catalysts. Madrigal strengthened confidence in sustained demand for Rezdiffra, supported by rising diagnosis rates in liver disease and the build-up of a long-term, viable franchise. BioNTech impressed with the breadth and depth of its oncology pipeline and a high density of late-stage clinical trials. Overall, the conference showed that innovation is once again being assessed in a more differentiated way, and that operational execution is increasingly driving investor confidence.
Medtech: Penumbra acquisition sets a marker
This assessment also applies to the medtech sector, according to Fritsch: «Discussions with large companies showed that business is largely running according to plan and that annual targets appear achievable.» Intuitive Surgical, for example, reported a significant increase in procedure volumes, underlining robust medical demand. A strategic signal was sent by Boston Scientific with its acquisition of Penumbra for $14.5 billion, a provider of innovative therapies with strong growth potential. Penumbra also significantly exceeded market expectations in terms of revenue growth. Positive trends are evident in adjacent segments as well. Companies that had previously underperformed are returning to a growth trajectory, while providers of life sciences tools are benefiting from a gradual recovery in demand. The segment remains an important innovation driver within the healthcare system.
Attractive valuations require active selection
According to Fritsch, the healthcare sector currently offers investors an attractive entry point. Despite improving operational prospects and growing visibility, many companies continue to trade at valuation discounts relative to the broader equity market. At the same time, dispersion within the sector remains significant. While some companies benefit from innovation, successful product launches and structural growth, others are lagging behind. For investors, this means that broad market exposure is insufficient. Value creation lies in active selection and in-depth analysis of business models, pipeline quality and execution capabilities. In this environment, healthcare can once again be positioned as a strategically relevant core allocation that combines stability with growth.
