Vanguards of Health Care by Bloomberg Intelligence

“We’re empowering health-care providers with unprecedented clinical depth in a compact portable form factor,” AliveCor CEO Priya Abani says about the development of its AI-enabled electrocardiogram (ECG) sensors, which provide medical-grade heart data anytime and anywhere. In this Vanguards of Health Care episode, Abani sits down with BI analyst Matt Henriksson for an in-depth discussion about the expansion of AliveCor’s Kardia 12L device, which gives physicians a smaller, more portable ECG option. The company has widened the device’s indications to 39 cardiac conditions, established a new Category III reimbursement code and continues to train its algorithm using 1 million ECGs. Abani also talks about how her time at Amazon.com influenced her perspective on the interaction of technology and the human experience.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“I suspect that RNAi-based medicines will approach, rival, maybe even exceed what we’ve seen with monoclonal antibodies historically,” says John Maraganore, the CEO of JMM Innovations and founding CEO of Alnylam. He joins Bloomberg Intelligence’s senior pharmaceutical analyst Sam Fazeli to reflect on RNAi’s journey from scientific curiosity to durable drug platform. Maraganore explains Alnylam’s reliance on big pharma partnerships for relatively non-dilutive capital, why rare diseases were the right entry point for commercialization and how mission-first culture sustained the company. He also discusses biotech’s “Sputnik moment,” FDA efficiency and where AI is already delivering real impact in drug discovery.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“One of our busy surgeons said, when they do an aprevo procedure, it’s a boring day in the OR and that’s actually a good thing,” Carlsmed’s CEO Mike Cordonnier tells Bloomberg Intelligence, as he explains how the use of AI technology is the future for spine procedures. In this Vanguards of Health Care episode, Cordonnier sits down with BI analyst Matt Henriksson for an in-depth interview about the design of the aprevo system, with its customized implants. He dives further into how aprevo reduces planning time, provides better alignment and lowers revision rates, creating favorable economics for hospitals. Other highlights from the episode include how he combined his experience across medtech and software to build this novel AI approach.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“Now we’re seeing how there are new medicines that act directly on the heart itself and less on downstream consequences of heart disease,” says Robert Blum, president and CEO of Cytokinetics. On this episode of Vanguards of Health Care, Blum speaks with Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Andrew Galler about Cytokinetics’ transition to a commercial-stage company following the approval of Myqorzo, its competitive positioning in the obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy market, and its potential to differentiate from competitors with upcoming ACACIA-HCM data. They also discuss Cytokinetics’ pipeline, which includes multiple assets targeting heart failure.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“Health care creates friction everywhere — copays, approvals, pre-authorizations — and none of that matters when someone you love needs help right now,” says Glen Tullman, CEO of Transcarent, in his return to the Vanguards of Health Care podcast to explain why speed, access and simplicity are existential issues in US health care. In a wide-ranging conversation with Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Jonathan Palmer, Tullman outlines Transcarent’s vision for delivering 24/7 care through an AI-first, mobile-native platform. He discusses why legacy navigation models fail consumers, how the Accolade acquisition accelerates Transcarent’s strategy and why WayFinding reframes benefits, clinical guidance and care delivery into a single real-time experience designed around human urgency — not the administrative process.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Despite all the noise -- tariffs, regulation, geopolitics -- the fundamentals are amazing, because our companies save people’s lives and the demand for innovation is absolutely real.” says Antoine Papiernik, Sofinnova Partners Chairman and Managing Partner. Speaking with Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Sam Fazeli, Papiernik explains why biotech remains a defensive, long-duration industry. He details how Sofinnova leverages AI to connect decades of proprietary data, uncovering emerging science across Europe to identify the next generation of biotech leaders. The discussion also covers the rise of AI-native drug discovery, the impending pharma patent cliff, and why capital is flowing toward platforms that deliver real clinical impact.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“Revenue cycle is really about solving two problems: generating an accurate receipt and then jumping through the fifty hoops to get paid.” says Dr. Michael Gao, CEO of Smarter Technologies. In this episode of Vanguards of Health Care, Gao joins Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Jonathan Palmer to explain how AI is transforming hospital revenue cycle management (RCM). He walks through Smarter’s approach to clinical intelligence and automation, why AI works best as a first pass with human supervision, and how smarter workflows can lift margins for hospitals operating on razor-thin economics. The conversation also explores Smarter’s formation with New Mountain Capital and Gao’s mission to reduce the trillion-dollar burden of health care administration.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“Our mission is to create both strategic and financial returns by backing scalable technologies that can transform how biopharma operates.” Bill Taranto, president and general partner of the Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, joins Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Jonathan Palmer to break down how Merck’s $600 million evergreen venture arm invests at the intersection of biotech and health tech. Taranto explains why GHI focuses on pharma services across drug development, supply chain, patient access and real-world evidence, how ecosystem investing and private equity drive scale, and why AI and data are reshaping the future of pharma operations.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“We were a very valuable deep-science company that had the wrong business strategy,” Zymeworks CEO Ken Galbraith tells Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Sam Fazeli on this episode of the Vanguards of Health Care podcast. In discussing the company’s strategic reset, Galbraith explains how Zymeworks shifted from a platform-heavy biotech to a partnership-driven model that balances innovation with capital discipline. The conversation covers zanidatamab’s path to market, lessons from partnering with Jazz and BeOne, the value of asymmetric antibody design and why retaining upside through milestones and royalties could reshape long-term value creation.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Vanguards of Health Care: Penumbra Expands CAVT Awareness “With pulmonary embolism, just like with stroke and some other things, where there’s an acute moment usually happening — the patient’s not doing well, decompressing on the table — time matters a lot. And because of the STORM-PE trial, we have the data on what that device time is in a pretty rigorous randomized study. And it just doesn’t compare to anything else out there. It’s dramatically less”, Penumbra CEO Adam Elsesser explains to Bloomberg Intelligence. In this Vanguards of Health Care episode, Elsesser sits down with BI medical technology analyst Matt Henriksson for an in-depth interview on Penumbra and how computer-assisted vacuum thrombectomy (CAVT) technology continues to improve, cutting the time to remove the clot while limiting blood loss. He also dives deep into the clinical results of the STORM-PE randomized clinical study, highlighting how CAVT demonstrated superiority over the standard of care to treat pulmonary-embolism patients, and its partnership with the PERT Consortium to drive public awareness of the need to treat this devastating disease.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“Drug development has become slower and more expensive despite all the new technology,” says Eric Hughes, executive vice president of Global R&D and chief medical officer of Teva Pharmaceutical. “That’s caused by increased regulatory scrutiny, more needs for quality, more needs for real treatment effects. But we’re in a unique position where we can stay really hyper-focused on what we’re doing. I’m on calls every week driving teams on enrollment studies, looking at data as quickly as possible, being able to pivot on things that I see that they’re bringing to me and being able to make decisions very rapidly and drive programs forward. I think that that ability to be like a biotech in a very large company is part of the secret sauce of what Teva’s doing right.” In this episode of the Vanguards of Health Care podcast, Hughes sits down with Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Ann-Hunter van Kirk for an in-depth interview about how the legacy generic manufacturer has built an R&D engine by replacing silos with a matrix structure, building partnerships and capitalizing on speed with AI.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“AI agents are at the knee of the curve in terms of where things are headed,” says John Beadle, Aegis Ventures co-founder and managing partner. In this episode of the Vanguards of Health Care podcast, Beadle joins Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Jonathan Palmer to unpack Aegis’s thesis-driven approach to founding AI-native health-care companies. He details how its 14-system consortium sources problems directly from operators, why automation is the biggest near-term value driver and how ventures like Ascertain have emerged from that model. Beadle also discusses the evolving venture market, the rise of agentic AI and why his personal experiences, shaped by his mother’s medical journey, fuel his mission to make the system more accessible and equitable.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“In the case of iLet, we're going to say, this is how much insulin they're getting for what they consider to be a usual meal. And we learn that and we can set it that way. So we just take the responsibility of learning carb counting, which is really tough, off the user's plate. That's an extra level of automation that traditional pumps don't provide,” Beta Bionics CEO Sean Saint explains to Bloomberg Intelligence. In this episode of Vanguards of Health Care, Saint sits down with BI analyst Matt Henriksson for an in-depth interview about Beta’s iLet pump, designed to eliminate the human stress of making insulin dosing decisions. The conversation also touches on the company’s pay as you go strategy through the pharmacy channel and future product development, including the Mint patch pump.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“If you’re not going overseas, you’re going out,” says Dr. Xingli Wang, Co-President of Fosun Pharma. He tells Bloomberg Intelligence’s Sam Fazeli how Fosun is transitioning from generics to novel medicines and positioning itself as a global innovator. With 90% of R&D now focused on oncology, autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases, Wang details Fosun’s ambition to move from a China-based manufacturer to a multinational developer with true blockbuster potential. He also reflects on how disciplined capital investment, scientific partnerships and cultural persistence could make Fosun the “Takeda of China.”Listen to this episode of Vanguards of Health Care on Apple Podcasts and SpotifySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“What you have to do in a market like that, where it’s highly genericized, is first you have to have a clinical differentiation,” says Richard Lowenthal, CEO of ARS Pharmaceuticals. “You have to have a benefit to the community, benefit to the patient population. Neffy achieves that very effectively by providing an option that’s very simple — it’s easy to carry, it’s very easy to use.” In this episode of Vanguards of Health Care, Richard sits down with Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Ann-Hunter van Kirk for an in-depth interview about how the company has navigated the commercial launch of its needle-free epinephrine nasal spray, neffy, in a highly competitive genericized market.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“In a world where we have so many wearables — smart rings, watches, glucose sensors — it’s challenging to integrate all of this information,” say Biolinq founder Jared Tangney and CEO Rich Yang. “So we decided to make it available to everybody in one device.” In this Vanguards of Health Care episode, the pair speak with Bloomberg Intelligence’s analyst Matt Henriksson about Biolinq’s microsensor-based patch that uses silicon semiconductor technology to track glucose and potentially other biomarkers. They also discuss the company’s commercial strategy for type 2 diabetes patients following its FDA de Novo approval, a US regulatory designation granted to first-of-its-kind medical devices that have been shown to be safe and effective.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“We were able to show multiple datasets that actually deliver against this vision that antibody drug conjugates can improve on and therefore displace chemotherapy” says Dr. Susan Galbraith, AstraZeneca’s EVP of oncology R&D. Galbraith joins Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Sam Fazeli to break down key findings from ESMO — from early-line HER2 breast cancer data to progress in bladder and lung cancer. She details the promise of Enhertu and Datopotamab, AstraZeneca’s antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), and how their work may transform cancer treatment in curative settings.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“The same was in neuro intervention for aneurysms, it was open clipping or it was endovascular. And I think that’s what’s happening in BCI. So there’s a bunch of craniotomy-based, open BCI companies, and then there’s an interventional approach”, Synchron’s founder and CEO Tom Oxley explains to Bloomberg Intelligence. In this Vanguards of Health Care podcast episode, Tom sits down with BI analyst Matt Henriksson for an in-depth interview about the company and how he utilized his experience with minimally invasive endovascular procedures to create its Stentrode as novel way to utilize brain-computer interfaces (BCI) without open brain surgery.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“It’s hard to overemphasize how broken we are in how we care for older adults.” says Seth Sternberg, CEO of Honor. Sternberg joins Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Jonathan Palmer to unpack how Honor’s AI-driven logistics and the Home Instead network tackle the hardest problem in home care: scaling quality. In this episode of the Vanguards of Health Care podcast they dive into matching the right caregiver to the right client, why stability is the No. 1 caregiver need, franchise advantages, and making private‑pay care more affordable for the middle class plus how quality metrics and “defect rates” power growth.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“When we talk about spine, having 7D, which is a highly differentiable product for deformities, I think it’s giving us the basis to become a real player and help to solve the most complex issues into spine,” Orthofix’s CEO Massimo Calafiore says as he explains the future of spine navigation. In this Vanguards of Health Care episode, Calafiore sits down with Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Matt Henriksson for an in-depth interview about the benefits of its 7D navigation in spine procedures that utilizes camera-based technology combined with machine-vision algorithms, the growth opportunities in specialized orthopedics, including limb preservation and extremity deformity correction, and how he built a new management team from the ground up to tackle these opportunities.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.