News & Insight • Podcasts

06 October 2021 | Paul Dixey

Healthcare after the Pandemic

The world’s population is getting older. Today 1 in 11 are aged over 65 yet it is estimated this could rise to 1 in 6 by 2050. But is the healthcare system built to cope with this increasing level of demand? Our incredible doctors, nurses, scientists, and researchers have saved millions of lives over the last 18 months but what areas of the healthcare system need investment? How does one go about investing in the healthcare space, surrounded by risks such as drug pricing reform in the US, and the threat from the big technology companies?

In part two of this two-part episode, Paul Major Co-Manager of the BB Healthcare Trust - a £1bn FTSE250 listed investment trust - and I discuss these and other questions.

KEY POINTS

00:47 - Paul Major shares a couple of the healthcare sub segments that really excite him

08:18 - I ask him how he thinks about ESG issues when investing in healthcare

13:48 - President Biden has said on drug pricing, “there aren’t a lot of things that almost every American could agree on, but I think it is safe to say that all of us, whatever our background, or our age and where we live, could agree that prescription drug prices are outrageously expensive in America” I ask Paul where we are in the reform process and how he manages this risk

22:17 - Another threat to the healthcare sector comes in the form of the Big Tech companies, we discuss the role they will play in the sector from now on

26:50 - During the pandemic telemedicine unsurprisingly experienced huge demand, but as we emerge from the pandemic does it have a future

31:30 - Stock markets have had a great run from the lows of last year and we discuss why the healthcare sector is deemed a defensive one and if now is the time to be increasing our exposure