Jefferies London Healthcare Conference 2025 — HBI’s highlights
This week, I attended the 2025 edition of Jefferies London Healthcare Conference. Here are my key takeaways on the current healthcare deal making environment.
Sitting in on different panels and presentations, I noticed cautious optimism among the healthcare companies and investors in attendance. Companies are focused on improving patient outcomes while keeping operations efficient, but they are also juggling economic pressures and shifting care models.
Pharma and biotech seem to be driving much of the current momentum.
One panel hosted by Datasite, a US-based company providing SaaS solutions for participants in the mergers and acquisitions lifecycle, highlighted how busy biotech M&A has been in the second half of 2025. A panelist mentioned that October was one of the busiest months for fundraising, and that energy is now flowing into pharma services, especially CDMOs. A panel on life science services hosted by strategy consulting firm McKinsey echoed this — panellists noted that CDMO and CRO activity is picking up again after a slower spell, largely because pharma companies are speeding up their manufacturing and development, which is driving more outsourcing.
There were also a lot of conversations around GLP-1 therapies. These drugs have moved far beyond being breakthrough treatments and are now seen as long-term growth drivers that are reshaping how chronic conditions are managed and attracting investment from large pharmaceutical companies.
There was also plenty of discussion about AI in healthcare. The tone has clearly shifted. It is no longer about whether AI will change the industry but how quickly it will change the industry. There are already visible gains in diagnostics, trial design and drug discovery, which is creating a sense of excitement across the sector.
Cell and gene therapy was a hot topic too. Big pharma is building more of these capabilities internally, but there is still space for smaller specialist companies. Investors speaking on the panels said they are looking for businesses that can scale, handle pressure and genuinely differentiate themselves, and being ready for AI is becoming an important part of that. Private equity participants also noted that early-stage or niche assets remain risky, but the right mix of scale, differentiation and technology adoption can help a company stand out.
Looking at the broader environment, private equity activity has slowed over the past couple of years due to market volatility, geopolitical uncertainty and tighter regulation. Even so, interest in healthcare remains strong. Investors are still focusing on healthcare services, medtech, specialty pharma and pharma services, and deal structures are becoming more flexible.
Summarising, the wider theme was that the year 2025 feels like a reset in healthcare deals and investments.
Looking ahead to 2026, private equity is expected to become more active as firms face pressure to sell assets, return capital and deploy the cash they have held back. Even with recent IPO challenges, successful listings such as Galderma, the dermatology-focused Swiss pharma company, Polish diagnostics provider Diagnostyka and German prosthetics company Ottobock show that the window is still open, which was reflected in the Jefferies Healthcare Temperature Check.
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