Baron Health Care Strategy

Eli Lilly and Company (LLY) is a global pharmaceutical company developing and marketing medicines in diabetes and obesity, oncology, immunology, and neuroscience. It is best known for its GIP/GLP-1 receptor agonists for diabetes and obesity.
We invest in Lilly for its 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 a leading provider of precision instruments and services for customers in the life sciences, food, and chemical industries, among others.  
Mettler-Toledo 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 leading global healthcare company focused on innovative medicine and medical technologies. Founded in 1886, it develops treatments for complex diseases (oncology, immunology) and medical devices for surgery and vision. They are widely known for their commitment to global health. 
Johnson & Johnson 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 5–7% 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 a leading global life sciences tools and services company. It provides analytical instruments, laboratory equipment, software, services, consumables, and reagents used in research, manufacturing, analysis, discovery, and diagnostics.
Thermo Fisher 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.

UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH) engages in the provision of health care coverage, software and data consultancy services. The ~$450B revenue company, one of the largest healthcare companies in the US,  operates in 4 segments: UnitedHealthcare, OptumHealth, OptumInsight and Optum RX. 
At twice the size of the next largest health maintenance organization by revenue, UnitedHealth is 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 enables it to keep and effectively manage more of its health care spending in-house.

Argenx SE (ARGX) is a biotechnology company launching Vyvgart (efgartigimod) in myasthenia gravis and chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, while developing the drug for additional autoantibody-driven autoimmune conditions. 
Efgartigimod 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.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (TEVA) is a global pharmaceutical company best known for generic medicines and increasingly focused on developing and commercializing innovative therapies.
We believe Teva’s innovative portfolio and pipeline 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 biotech company developing novel drugs across multiple therapeutic areas. It in-licenses or acquires deprioritized assets from larger pharmaceutical companies, housing each in standalone entities while centralizing capital allocation and shared resources at the parent level.
We are optimistic about Roivant’s autoimmune pipeline. 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 Phase 2 mosliciguat data in PH-ILD expected in the second half of 2026.

Welltower Inc. (WELL) is a $100 billion diversified health care owner and manager of senior housing, including assisted and independent living. Core to its strategy is to partner with top-tier operators and health systems while providing operators access to its proprietary data analytics platform.
We are optimistic about the prospects for Welltower given the substantial opportunity for cyclical recovery and continued secular growth in its senior housing business through occupancy and rent growth. The company also benefits from its proven ability to recycle capital at attractive rates of returns, premier health care platform, partnerships with top-tier operators, and well-respected management team focused solely on creating value on a per-share basis.

Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK) is a pharmaceutical company developing and commercializing drugs for the global market. Its current focus is lead asset Keytruda, which is used to treat several different cancers.
We believe Keytruda is one of the greatest growth assets in the medical space. Annualizing close to $30 billion at the mid-part of launch, Keytruda usurped Humira as the best-selling drug in the health care industry. We think this momentum, along with the growth of Gardasil (a vaccine for HPV), will lead to operating margin and profitability expansion well above consensus expectations. Growth potential has been bolstered by Merck's late 2021 acquisition of Acceleron Pharma, which just received a new drug approval, and early 2023 acquisition of Prometheus Biosciences.