Vanguards of Healthcare by Bloomberg Intelligence

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Episodes

148

Latest episode

Jun 2026

Language

EN-US

About the show

Vanguards of Healthcare is a series of exclusive conversations with management teams and thought leaders discussing changes on the forefront of the industry, including innovations in medical products and technologies, advances in clinical research, new service models, wellness and regulations.

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60 recent

June 16, 20261 hr 3 min

Bristol Myers on Why Neuroscience Could Be the Next Oncology

“Neuroscience is what oncology was 20 years ago,” says Cristian Massacesi, Chief Medical Officer and Head of Development at Bristol Myers Squibb. Massacesi joins Bloomberg Intelligence pharmaceuticals analyst Sam Fazeli to discuss Bristol Myers’ push into neuroscience, including Alzheimer’s therapies aimed at tau, a protein tied to brain tangles in the disease. They also explore the company’s oncology pipeline, including PD-L1/VEGF bispecifics, next-generation antibody-drug conjugates and advances in multiple myeloma. Massacesi explains how Bristol is balancing internal innovation with external partnerships and why AI could fundamentally change the economics and success rates of drug development.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

June 11, 202640 min

Restor3D Combines AI with 3D Printing to Create Personalized Ortho Solutions

“If you plan, the cases can go much more smoothly. And if you have patient-specific instrumentation, they can go much more quickly” says restor3D’s CEO Kurt Jacobus in this episode of Vanguards of Healthcare. He sat down with BI analyst Matt Henriksson to elaborate on personalized orthopedic implants, outlining how the win then for the surgeon is the capacity to complete more cases, with better patient outcomes reputationally, and the win for the facility is getting another case into the operating room.  The in-depth interview covered restor3D’s AI planning and 3D printing capabilities, its path in integrating the Conformis acquisition to allow it to compete against larger companies in the knee-replacement market and the upcoming launch of its patient app. He also discussed how his drive to use technology to solve problems led him from the consulting world to leading medtech companies. Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

June 9, 202657 min

AstraZeneca’s ASCO Readout on Oncology’s Next Wave

“I think it’s the most exciting period in cancer discovery and development that I’ve experienced over the last 25 years,” says Susan Galbraith, executive vice president of oncology R&D at AstraZeneca. Galbraith joins Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Sam Fazeli fresh from the ASCO conference to unpack how ctDNA, earlier intervention and next-generation oncology platforms could reshape cancer care. They discuss AstraZeneca’s Stride regimen in liver cancer, Serena-6 in breast cancer, progress in pancreatic cancer and the company’s push across ADCs, bispecifics, CAR-T and radio conjugates.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 28, 202623 min

Ocular Therapeutix Cuts Blindness Toll

“Forty percent of patients in this country alone in the first year drop out [of current retinal disease treatments] and every one of those patients ends up going blind. By far the most expensive disease in the world is blindness and the reason for that is really quite simple. It’s because the mortality doesn’t change, the use of resources skyrockets, but the mortality doesn’t change. In this country, every blind patient costs over $66,000 a year,” says Pravin Dugel, CEO of Ocular Therapeutix. “If we reduce that dropout rate by even 10% with Axpaxli, and I’m sure we’ll do even better, we’re talking about a quarter million fewer patients in this country alone who will not go blind. The impact of that, not just on a human basis but on an economic basis, is astronomical.” In this episode of the Vanguards of Healthcare podcast, Pravin sits down with Bloomberg Intelligence senior analyst Ann-Hunter van Kirk to discuss how the company can reduce the therapeutic and economic burden of retinal diseases.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 21, 202646 min

IRhythm Pushes a Proactive Approach to Monitoring

“We’re seeing it already to much more of a preventative proactive monitoring to find these things earlier in the patient journeys and help eliminate and prevent and reduce downstream costs,” IRhythm Technologies CEO Quentin Blackford discusses the opportunities of remote monitoring with Bloomberg Intelligence. In this Vanguards of Healthcare podcast episode, Blackford sits down with BI analyst Matt Henriksson for an in-depth interview on iRhythm, how its Zio monitoring platform provides an end-to-end solution to monitor patients without disrupting their everyday lives, and its strategy to expand into the primary care setting to provide a more proactive approach to detect cardiac arrhythmias and other health signals. Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 14, 202645 min

Pulse Biosciences Brings Differentiated Nanosecond Technology to PFA

Based on long-term results, “the effectiveness of that nanosecond pulse electric field begins to look as if it is a step function ahead of first generation PFA,”  Pulse Biosciences CEO Paul LaViolette says, referring to the next stage of pulsed-field ablation innovation. In this Vanguards of Healthcare episode, LaViolette sits down with BI analyst Matt Henriksson for an in-depth interview about the potential benefits of nanosecond ablation technology to treat atrial fibrillation, which combines an ultrashort pulse duration with a high amplitude of voltage. LaViolette also discusses the commercial strategy behind the launch of its NANOPULSE-AF IDE pivotal study, following promising first-in-human trial results.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 7, 202649 min

RTW’s Rod Wong on Biotech’s Revival and the Global Shift

“I think this is going to be the most eventful ASCO for biotech in a while,” says Dr. Roderick Wong, founder of RTW Investments, referring to the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Wong joins Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Sam Fazeli on the Vanguards of Health Care podcast to break down biotech’s rebound, why fundamentals may finally be improving after a prolonged bear market and how China’s speed and cost advantages are reshaping global drug discovery. They also explore AI’s potential to improve clinical success rates, rare-disease regulatory flexibility and why oncology, neuropsych and immunology remain fertile ground for innovation.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

April 30, 202655 min

Cortica’s Plan to Bring Value-Based Care to Autism

“It’s crazy to think that that would be the expectation in cancer care, yet we expect that of families in autism,” says Neil Hattangadi, CEO and co-founder of Cortica. Hattangadi joins Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Jonathan Palmer to explain why autism care remains so fragmented and how Cortica is trying to replace siloed services with a coordinated whole-child model. They discuss why applied behavior analysis (ABA) should be one tool, not the whole answer, how Cortica integrates medical and behavioral care, and why better coordination could ease the burden on families while improving outcomes.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

April 23, 202652 min

Xontogeny's Case for Drug Developers Over Storytellers

“More than half of your time as a public company CEO is devoted to things that are not drug development,” Xontogeny CEO Chris Garabedian says. Garabedian joins Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Sam Fazeli on this episode of the Vanguards of Health Care podcast to explain why he earlier left the track of operating public companies to back biotech, where better decisions can create the biggest value inflections. He discusses what separates real drug developers from scientists, why early biotech mistakes are often irreversible, how Xontogeny evaluates new companies, and why AI may improve research tools faster than it transforms human biology.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

April 16, 202648 min

Roivant’s Playbook for Finding Value Others Miss in Biotech

“In biotech, all of the ideas sound amazing and most of them don’t work.” Roivant CEO Matt Gline joins Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Sam Fazeli on this episode of the Vanguards of Health Care podcast to explain how the company tries to tilt those odds through an unconventional model built around focused, entrepreneurial “vants.” Gline discusses why Roivant targets overlooked or deprioritized large-pharma assets, how its structure is designed to preserve speed and accountability, and why clinical rigor, capital allocation and disciplined execution matter more than biotech hype. The conversation also explores orphan-style launches, FDA consistency, AI and the challenge of building durable value in a volatile biotech market.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.