How Are Healthcare CEOs Steering Through Uncertainty?
Healthcare CEOs in the US are \u201ctrying to set course in an otherwise unpredictable, highly uncertain world,\u201d according to this episode\u2019s guest, Marshall Smith, global head of Goldman Sachs\u2019 healthcare investment banking. The uncertainty, stemming from global growth concerns, trade policy risk and drug pricing debates, is a consistent theme across the healthcare industry, but that doesn\u2019t mean corporations are sitting back and waiting. Growth strategies are top priorities for executives, Smith explains, with pharmaceutical companies turning to M&A\u2013both to acquire smaller biotech companies for their drug portfolios and to merge with other large pharma companies. Smith also discusses how being the son of a doctor spurred an early interest in healthcare. \u201cMy dad would come home from the hospital [and] we\u2019d have dinner together, all seven of us sitting around the table,\u201d Smith recalled. \u201cAnd so, invariably, we ended up talking about medical cases at dinner pretty much every night.\u201d