Tune in as Glenn Hunzinger, PwC’s Health Industries Leader, connects with Nick Donkar, PwC’s U.S. Health Services Deals Leader, and Roel Van den Akker, PwC’s Pharma and Life Sciences Deals Leader, to discuss the 2025 midyear deals outlook across health services and pharma and life sciences. They explore how macroeconomic trends, regulatory pressures, and evolving investment strategies are shaping M&A activity and where new opportunities may emerge as companies look ahead to the second half of the year.

Discussion highlights:

• Health services deal volume remains resilient, with renewed investor interest in behavioral health, physician groups, and home-based care models
• Private equity firms are focused on outpatient growth platforms and niche services like revenue cycle management to navigate cost and regulatory headwinds
• Pharma and life sciences dealmaking is centered on targeted, asset driven M&A in the $1 to $5 billion range, rather than full scale platform acquisitions
• Regulatory uncertainty from FDA resource constraints to evolving policies on pricing and probability of technical and regulatory success (PTRS), is complicating deal modeling and slowing transaction timelines
• U.S. biopharma companies are increasingly sourcing early stage innovation from China, introducing new strategic opportunities along with cross border compliance and data challenges

Speakers:

Glenn Hunzinger, Health Industries Leader, PwC
Nick Donkar, US Healthcare Deals Leader
Roel Van den Akker, US Pharma & Life Sciences Deals Leader

Linked materials:

https://www.pwc.com/us/en/industries/health-industries/library/health-services-deals-outlook.html

https://www.pwc.com/us/en/industries/health-industries/library/pharma-life-sciences-deals-outlook.html

For more information, please visit us at: https://www.pwc.com/us/en/industries/health-industries/health-research-institute/next-in-health-podcast.html.

Tune in as Glenn Hunzinger, PwC’s Health Industries Leader, and Phil Scalfani, PwC’s Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences Consulting Leader, discuss the Trump administration’s executive order on Most Favored Nation (MFN) drug pricing and its far-reaching implications across the healthcare ecosystem. They break down what MFN pricing could mean for pharmaceutical companies, payers, PBMs, and the broader drug supply chain, and share perspectives on how organizations can navigate the uncertainty ahead.

Discussion Highlights:

• The MFN executive order is a bold attempt to lower U.S. drug prices by benchmarking them against the lowest prices paid in other high-income countries
• Pharma companies may be forced to rethink global pricing strategies, balancing U.S. price cuts with potential increases or market exits abroad
• A proposed shift to direct-to-consumer drug access could disrupt traditional roles for pharmacies, distributors, and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs)
• Companies are preparing for significant uncertainty by reassessing deals, modeling financial impacts, and closely monitoring upcoming rulemaking and potential legal developments

Speakers:

Glenn Hunzinger, Health Industries Leader, PwC
Philip Sclafani, Partner, Pharma & Life Sciences, PwC

Linked materials:

Most Favored Nation prescription drug pricing Executive Order

For more information, please visit us at: https://www.pwc.com/us/en/industries/health-industries/health-research-institute/next-in-health-podcast.html.

Tune in as Glenn Hunzinger, PwC’s Health Industries Leader, connects with Matt Rich, PwC’s Pharma and Life Sciences R&D Leader, to unpack the recent disruption at the FDA and what it means for the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors. They discuss how companies can stay agile in the face of regulatory uncertainty, avoid preventable delays, and take practical steps to move programs forward with clarity.

Discussion highlights:

• Ongoing restructuring at the FDA is creating uncertainty and delays in drug and device approvals, with wide-ranging impacts across the pharma, biotech and medtech landscape.
• While companies can’t control the regulatory environment, they can focus on improving internal speed, efficiency, and submission quality to keep programs moving forward
• Avoiding preventable missteps, or “foot faults,” in data, endpoints, and submission packages is critical to reducing review delays and regulatory pushback
• Diversifying risk by pursuing parallel regulatory pathways in other regions such as Europe and Japan can help accelerate access and reduce dependency on a single agency
• In the absence of a clear playbook, companies should focus on what they can control by applying past lessons, staying disciplined, and collaborating across the industry to support more efficient FDA review processes

Speakers:

Matt Rich, PwC’s Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences R&D Leader
Glenn Hunzinger, Partner, Health Industries Leader, PwC

Linked materials:

Navigating the FDA disruption: 4 key actions for pharma

For more information, please visit us at: https://www.pwc.com/us/en/industries/health-industries/health-research-institute/next-in-health-podcast.html.