Glenn Hunzinger, PwC&#x27;s US Health Industries Leader, speaks with Dan Farrell, PwC&#x27;s Health Services Deals Leader, about the forces shaping health services dealmaking in 2026. Despite ongoing reimbursement uncertainty, rising medical costs, and operational pressures, investors continue to deploy capital into assets with strong fundamentals and clear value creation opportunities. The conversation explores where capital is flowing, how AI is influencing investment decisions, and what dealmakers should prioritize in the second half of the year. Discussion Highlights: Resilient health services deal activity despite reimbursement uncertainty and rising medical costs Investor focus on operational resilience, earnings durability, and clear value creation pathways Continued momentum in physician medical groups and behavioral health organizations AI&#x27;s growing role in diligence, operational performance, and value creation strategies Increased activity in portfolio optimization, carve-outs, and strategic capital allocation Key priorities for dealmakers navigating growth and value creation in the second half of 2026 Speakers: Glenn Hunzinger, US Health Industries Leader, PwC Roel Van den Akker, US Pharma and Life Science Deals Leader, PwC For additional insights on the pharmaceutical and life sciences deals landscape, check out our Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences: US Deals 2026 Midyear Outlook report, available now: 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.

US Pharma Deals Midyear Outlook 2026: Why Dealmakers Are Leaning Into Growth

PwC's Next in Health

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** PwC's Next in Health

## Transcript

Welcome to PwC's Next in Health. I'm Glenn Hunzinger, PwC's US Health Industries Leader. Today we're talking about pharmaceutical and life science deal-making. And one thing is pretty clear, the market has gotten a lot more active. What's interesting is this isn't happening in a stable environment. Companies are still dealing with pricing pressure, policy uncertainty, and questions about the future regulatory landscape and what that may look like. But rather than slowing down, organizations seem to be moving faster.

Large former is under pressure to replace pipelines. Investors are chasing differentiated science, they're always trying to follow the science and new technologies are changing how companies think about creating value. But the real question is, so what's really driving the market? What are buyers placing their bets on? What should leaders be paying attention to when they think about growth partnership acquisitions? Joining me today is Roel van den Akker, PwC's US Pharma and Life Science Deals Leader. Ruhl, welcome back.

Glenn, it's great to be here and look forward to our discussion. All right, so let's jump right in. Ruhl, tell me about the first half. Has it been active and what's been driving the boom? Yeah, Glenn, I think you said it in your preamble there. Very active deals market, five plus months into the year. It's great to see. It's keeping us very busy and we're very excited about this.

Both from a volume and a value perspective, we've seen a very active market. And I think we kind of predicted this going into the year, Glenn. We spoke before around the turn of the year in JP Morgan and we were predicting an active year. We're seeing it play out. If you look at a last 12-month basis through the first quarter, we have a deal market that both from a volume and a volume perspective is close to approaching 22 and 23 levels, which were very active years.

If you are extrapolating the first quarter of this year for the full year, you probably get a record year for biopharma M&A. What I think is interesting to see is that the trend that we were seeing before towards smaller transaction is continuing. Like we see people playing in the $1 to $10 billion or $5 to $15 billion range. I think through the end of May, we were counting over 20 transactions north of a billion dollar an ounce.

So people definitely have their foot on the gas. What I think is really feeding this is kind of what you said in the preamble. Generally, optimism from a macroeconomic perspective, strong balance sheets for biopharma to lean into. I think fantastic strides in science in various different therapeutic areas that are making people enthusiastic to lean into M&A. So it's absolutely been a very active market here for the first five and a half months.

And we do expect that that trend will continue here, Glenn, as we go through the rest of the year. No, it's great. We always spoke about h...

US Pharma Deals Midyear Outlook 2026: Why Dealmakers Are Leaning Into Growth

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.

US Pharma Deals Midyear Outlook 2026: Why Dealmakers Are Leaning Into Growth

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.