Baron Health Care Fund

Eli Lilly and Company (LLY) is a leading global pharmaceutical company with a dominant position in GLP-1 therapies for obesity and diabetes through Zepbound and Mounjaro, alongside significant franchises in oncology, immunology, and neuroscience.
Eli Lilly and Company (LLY) offers exposure to high-growth categories, including diabetes, obesity, and oncology. Mounjaro and Zepbound, dual GIP/GLP-1 receptor agonists, provide strong glucose control and can produce average weight loss of about 20% at the highest dose in adults with obesity. Tirzepatide has also shown cardiovascular benefits in select high-risk populations. We believe incretin therapies will become standard care for diabetes and obesity, creating a market we estimate could exceed $150 billion.

Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (MTD) is the world's leading supplier of precision laboratory balances and industrial weighing instruments, serving pharmaceutical, chemical, food, and academic customers globally, alongside product inspection systems and automated chemistry solutions.
Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (MTD) has a track record of consistent growth. The company has strong brand recognition, customer diversification, pricing power, and margin expansion opportunities. We think the business has attractive financial characteristics, including high returns on capital, minimal capital requirements, and solid free cash flow generation, which it uses to repurchase its stock. We believe the management team is an excellent steward of capital and skilled at developing sales and marketing initiatives to enhance growth.

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) is a diversified health care company with two segments: Innovative Medicine, which develops prescription therapies in areas such as immunology, oncology, and neuroscience, and MedTech, which supplies products for surgery, orthopedics, interventional solutions, and vision.
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) has been actively optimizing its portfolio by separating and spinning off lower-growth, less-attractive businesses while investing in higher-growth, innovative segments. This has resulted in a portfolio with accelerating growth, which we believe supports a higher valuation multiple. The business is growing 5% to 7% in the near term and could accelerate to double-digit revenue growth by the end of the decade, driven by multiple catalysts in the company’s Innovative Medicine segment and stable growth in MedTech.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (TMO) is the world's largest life sciences tools company, providing analytical instruments, laboratory equipment, software, services, consumables, and reagents to pharmaceutical and biotechnology, academic, government, diagnostics, and industrial customers.
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (TMO) serves a $255 billion addressable market supported by favorable demographics, scientific advances, new technologies, and regulation. Management targets 7% long-term organic revenue growth, driven by share gains and exposure to faster-growing segments. Its scale, commercial infrastructure, e-commerce platform, supply chain, and R&D investment create competitive advantages. The fragmented market also provides opportunities for value-creating M&A.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (TEVA) develops, produces, and sells medicines, including generic, biosimilar, and over-the-counter products and a specialty portfolio focused on the central nervous system, across the U.S., Europe, and international markets.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (TEVA) has an innovative portfolio and pipeline that we believe are underappreciated and increasingly important to growth. AUSTEDO, AJOVY, and UZEDY continue to gain traction, while long-acting olanzapine could extend its schizophrenia franchise. The ecopipam acquisition adds a late-stage pediatric Tourette syndrome asset. Duvakitug in inflammatory bowel disease, DARI in asthma, and TEV-408 in vitiligo and celiac disease provide additional opportunities in underserved markets.

Roivant Sciences Ltd. (ROIV) is a biopharmaceutical company developing medicines for conditions such as psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, and thyroid eye disease through a portfolio of commercial products and drug candidates.
Roivant Sciences Ltd. (ROIV) has an autoimmune pipeline that we are optimistic about. Priovant’s brepocitinib, licensed from Pfizer, is under FDA Priority Review for dermatomyositis and has additional opportunities in cutaneous sarcoidosis and non-infectious uveitis. Immunovant’s next-generation FcRn inhibitor, IMVT-1402, could address a large unmet need in Graves’ disease. Roivant’s record of sourcing underappreciated assets provides further confidence, with recently reported strong Phase 2 mosliciguat data in PH-ILD adding another blockbuster opportunity.

argenx SE (ARGX) is an immunology-focused biotechnology company developing differentiated antibody-based therapies for severe autoimmune diseases. Its proprietary antibody platform, derived from the llama immune system, underpins its lead therapy, efgartigimod, which targets the neonatal Fc receptor.
argenx SE (ARGX) owns efgartigimod, which has potentially broad applicability in ameliorating overactive antibody-based diseases. Efgartigimod is a true “pipeline in a product,” where the product itself is the platform, as it has the potential to be used against a diverse range of diseases—something that is rarely achieved in the biotechnology space. We expect the share price to increase as argenx proves its product’s effectiveness in multiple autoantibody disorders.

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (UNH) is the leading health care franchise in the U.S., combining UnitedHealthcare, a health insurer, with Optum, which provides care delivery, data and analytics, and pharmacy benefit services. Its scale and technology investments help it manage health care costs.
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (UNH) is twice the size of the next largest health maintenance organization by revenue and the leading health care franchise in the U.S. We believe it should continue to see solid growth and profitability, driven by positive demographic trends and its ability to manage costs by leveraging its size and scale, continuing its industry-leading technology investments, expanding its expertise in population health, and growing its portfolio of providers, all of which lets it keep and effectively manage more of its health care spending in-house.

Welltower Inc. (WELL) is a leading health care real estate investment trust focused on senior housing, operating primarily through the seniors housing operating and triple-net lease models across the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom.
Welltower Inc. (WELL) has substantial opportunity for cyclical recovery and continued secular growth in its senior housing business through occupancy and rent growth, and we are optimistic about its prospects. The company also benefits from its proven ability to recycle capital at attractive rates of return, a premier health care platform, partnerships with top-tier operators, and a well-respected management team focused solely on creating value on a per-share basis.

Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK) is a global health care company that develops, manufactures, and sells prescription medicines, vaccines, and biologic therapies for human health, along with animal health and consumer care products.
Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK) has, we think, effectively managed the impact of the Keytruda patent cliff through aggressive business development and pipeline investment. Merck is launching over 20 new growth drivers, which represent a potential commercial opportunity of over $70 billion by the mid-2030s on a non-risk-adjusted basis. Multiple pipeline readouts over the coming year should add visibility to the company’s ability to grow earnings well into the next decade.