Morgan Stanley Global Healthcare Conference | New York 2026

Kalli Dircks: One of my takeaways at Morgan Stanley's Global Healthcare Conference is that biotech equity markets are at a really compelling place. The pace of innovation across oncology, I&I, and rare disease is truly astonishing. 

Ultimately, that's the goal of the biotech equity financing market: to fund trials, to deliver care for patients. The capital is flowing to companies that have clear, differentiated clinical data, and assets that are important to large pharma.

Matthew Strom: We've been having bunch of great conversations centered around proprietary data. Healthcare has always done a really great job of collecting imaging, genomic, longitudinal clinical data, but only recently as AI tools and technology have advanced, have we really been able to start making good use of that data. 

And we're finally now starting to see the very early advances in drug discovery and development, and even the beginnings of AI doctors and AI practitioners.

James Talbot: The mood in the biopharma sector is incredibly strong. This year we've seen breakout clinical data sets, very strong drug launches from biotech companies as they bring new medicines to market, and we've seen the most robust biotech M&A market we've seen in many years with buyers across the spectrum, from Europe to the US, big and small, looking to add growth and innovation to their portfolios.

Utilization is one of the key themes that we're hearing about at the conference from companies across the healthcare services landscape.

It's a key focus for investors as they look into what's driving trends, how sustainable they are, and whether or not we're in this normalized utilization environment. Things tend to still be robust, but it is top of mind for investors.

The second theme that we're really focused on is consumerization of healthcare. Patients really taking the wheel when it comes to their own healthcare. We've heard it from clinical laboratories and industry constituents about direct-to-consumer testing, and that was definitely a key theme.

Lastly, policy is front and center always when it comes to healthcare services. We're seeing changes in terms of accountability measures, eligibility measures, as well as greater tech enablement that's instilled from this administration, and we think that our companies are successfully adapting to this. But it still is a dynamic market and something we'll pay attention to going forward.

I'm Erin Wright, Healthcare Services Analyst at Morgan Stanley Research.

We're here at Morgan Stanley's 24th Annual Healthcare Conference in the middle of Times Square.

I’ve heard about a lot of exciting things this year.

First on the policy front, It seems like we're in a much more benign environment relative to last year, which I think is a positive.

Second, we're hearing about capital deployment.

There are a number of upcoming loss of exclusivity or patent cliffs the larger cap companies are navigating.

They’ve been deploying capital actively, looking for bolt-on transactions.

It seems like that activity is likely going to continue.

We’re seeing one of most robust deal environments this year.

Number three, new product cycles have been in focus for a lot of oral medications for obesity, psoriasis and cholesterol, among many other opportunities.

Fourth, innovation continues to ramp across the space.

We've heard about exciting developments for cancer vaccines, next-gen obesity medicines, antibody drug conjugates, among other things.

And lastly, opportunities to leverage AI across companies’ infrastructure both for clinical trial recruitment, supply chain optimization, and longer-term drug discovery and development.

I'm Terrence Flynn, biopharma analyst for Morgan Stanley Research.

We're here at Morgan Stanley's 24th annual healthcare conference in the middle of Times Square.

Have heard about a lot of exciting things this year, first, on the policy front.

It seems like we're in a much more benign environment relative to last year, which I think is a positive.

Second, we're hearing about capital deployment from a number of our companies.

There are a number of upcoming loss of exclusivity or patent that the larger cap companies are navigating.

They have been deploying capital, actively looking for bolt on transactions.

It seems like that activity is likely going to continue as we think about the forward opportunity.

We're seeing one of most robust deal environments this year.

Number three, a number of new product cycles have been in focus for a lot of oral medications for obesity, psoriasis and cholesterol, among many other opportunities.

Fourth, innovation continues to ramp across the space.

We've heard about exciting developments for cancer vaccines, next gen obesity medicines, antibody drug conjugates, among other things.

And lastly, opportunities to leverage AI across companies infrastructure, both for clinical trial recruitment, supply chain optimization and longer term drug discovery and development.

I'm Terrence Flynn, biopharma analyst for Morgan Stanley.

We're here at Morgan Stanley's 24th annual healthcare conference in the middle of Times Square.

Have heard about a lot of exciting things this year, first, on the policy front.

It seems like we're in a much more benign environment relative to last year, which I think is a positive.

Second, we're hearing about capital deployment from a number of our companies.

There are a number of upcoming loss of exclusivity or patent that the larger cap companies are navigating.

They have been deploying capital, actively looking for bolt on transactions.

It seems like that activity is likely going to continue as we think about the forward opportunity.

We're seeing one of most robust deal environments this year.

Number three, a number of new product cycles have been in focus for a lot of oral medications for obesity, psoriasis and cholesterol, among many other opportunities.

Fourth, innovation continues to ramp across the space.

We've heard about exciting developments for cancer vaccines, next gen obesity medicines, antibody drug conjugates, among other things.

And lastly, opportunities to leverage AI across companies infrastructure, both for clinical trial recruitment, supply chain optimization and longer term drug discovery and development.

I'm Terrence Flynn, biopharma analyst for Morgan Stanley.

We're here at Morgan Stanley's 24th annual healthcare conference in the middle of Times Square.

Have heard about a lot of exciting things this year, first, on the policy front.

It seems like we're in a much more benign environment relative to last year, which I think is a positive.

Second, we're hearing about capital deployment.

There are a number of upcoming loss of exclusivity or patent that the larger cap companies are navigating.

They have been deploying capital, actively looking for bolt on transactions.

It seems like that activity is likely going to continue.

We're seeing one of most robust deal environments this year.

Number three, of new product cycles have been in focus for a lot of oral medications for obesity, psoriasis and cholesterol, among many other opportunities.

Fourth, innovation continues to ramp across the space.

We've heard about exciting developments for cancer vaccines, next gen obesity medicines, antibody drug conjugates, among other things.

And lastly, opportunities to leverage AI across companies infrastructure, both for clinical trial recruitment, supply chain optimization and longer term drug discovery and development.

I'm Terrence Flynn, biopharma analyst for Morgan Stanley.

We're here at Morgan Stanley's 24th annual healthcare conference in the middle of Times Square.

Have heard about a lot of exciting things this year, first, on the policy front.

It seems like we're in a much more benign environment relative to last year, which I think is a positive.

Second, we're hearing about capital deployment.

There are a number of upcoming loss of exclusivity or patent that the larger cap companies are navigating.

They have been deploying capital, actively looking for bolt on transactions.

It seems like that activity is likely going to continue.

We're seeing one of most robust deal environments this year.

Number three, of new product cycles have been in focus for a lot of oral medications for obesity, psoriasis and cholesterol, among many other opportunities.

Fourth, innovation continues to ramp across the space.

We've heard about exciting developments for cancer vaccines, next gen obesity medicines, antibody drug conjugates, among other things.

And lastly, opportunities to leverage AI across companies infrastructure, both for clinical trial recruitment, supply chain optimization and longer term drug discovery and development.

I'm Terence Flynn, biopharma analyst for Morgan Stanley.

We're here at Morgan Stanley's twenty-fourth Annual Healthcare Conference in the middle of Times Square.

Have heard about a lot of exciting things this year.

First, on the policy front, uh, it seems like we're in a much more benign environment relative to last year, which I think is a positive.

Second, we're hearing about capital deployment.

There are a number of upcoming loss of exclusivity or patent cliffs the larger cap companies are navigating.

They have been deploying capital actively, looking for bolt-on transactions. It seems like that activity is likely going to continue.

We're seeing one of the most robust deal environments this year.

Number three, new product cycles have been in focus for, uh, a lot of oral medications for obesity, psoriasis, and cholesterol, among many other opportunities.

Fourth, innovation continues to ramp across the space. We've heard about exciting developments for cancer vaccines, next gen obesity medicines, antibody drug conjugates, among other things.

And lastly, opportunities to leverage AI across companies' infrastructure, both for clinical trial recruitment, supply chain optimization, and longer term drug discovery and development.

I'm Terrence Flynn, BioPharma analyst for Morgan Stanley Research.

  Salem 

The concept of wellness is no longer just about burning fat and building muscle. It’s expanded into something far more holistic, including how we eat, how we sleep and how we manage stress. Corporate attitudes towards well-being have also changed.

Carvalho

Employee well-being is being discussed at boards now because the liability of not having employee well-being is super high. And it’s going to be even more relevant going forward.

Salem 

One leader who saw this shift long before it became mainstream is Wellhub’s CEO and co-founder, Cesar Carvalho.

Carvalho

The next step is corporate well-being becoming a standard that every single company has to offer, that every single employee demands their employer to do.

Salem 

His vision turned the company into a multi-billion-dollar business that is reshaping how organizations and employees think about wellness. As part of Morgan Stanley’s Investment Banking team, I’ve had a front-row seat to Wellhub’s remarkable expansion. I sat down with Cesar recently to talk about the company’s journey and where the future of wellness is headed.

Salem 

Cesar, it's great to have you here.

Carvalho

Thank you for having me. Great to be here as well.

Salem 

For those who are not familiar with Wellhub, tell us a little bit about what you guys do.

Carvalho

Wellhub is a technology company that's making well-being accessible to every single employee. And we're also helping change behaviors for the better at scale. And right now, we work with more than 40,000 corporate clients, and we have over 5 million paid subscribers. Those subscribers are visiting more than 100,000 partners—different gyms, studios and apps—more accessible, more flexible, and have more options than any traditional gym membership.

Salem 

What was it that inspired you to do this?

Carvalho

Growing up in the countryside in a rural area, I've always had well-being close to heart. I was a super active kid with sports and etcetera, and when I started working, they all went away and I completely forgot about that part of my life. I was doing my MBA, and I took a break. And I noticed there was an opportunity here to bring those two worlds together again and help not only myself but every single other employee who was struggling with not keeping up with well-being. And that was when I decided to drop out of my MBA to pursue this amazing mission. And 13 years later, here I am still driving it forward.

Salem 

How has corporate well-being evolved, you know, across all companies and their attitudes towards offering this type of thing to employees?

Carvalho

It started as a cost center, and now it has already moved into an investment strategy and part of the overall strategy for companies. Well-being used to be an app for meditation, an app for nutrition, an app for physical activity, some partnerships with gyms nearby the office, or maybe an in-company gym. And the problem with those legacy solutions is that the employee participation on those are extremely low. The new version of employee well-being is very different. It's about engagement. It's about the products employees would use every single month, many times per week.

Salem 

The ecosystem that Wellhub has, from the companies to the wellness partners to the employees: it's very powerful. And I want you to talk through a little bit the interplay across those three groups.

Carvalho

Starting with the employees: they have access to a membership that never existed in the well-being space. It costs less than a traditional gym membership but gives every single employee access to thousands of locations, many different wellness apps for physical activity, nutrition, sleep, meditation, and therapy. The companies that are clients of Wellhub love the products we bring to them, because we get a lot of those people who were not previously active, were not previously engaging with well-being, to sign up for the first time. They want to invest, to get those people to change behaviors for the better, and they reap the benefits as well. And the last part of the equation here are our wellness partners: the different gyms, studios, and apps we work with that are included in our memberships. Because we're getting a lot of new people into this ecosystem, they're getting incremental revenue, they're increasing their earnings. Our ecosystem is the reason why our model is so robust and why also it's growing super-fast.

Salem 

In December of 2025, Wellhub reached a significant milestone: one billion check-ins, representing a tenfold increase in just three years. That means one billion moments when subscribers visited a gym, took an online fitness class, or paused for a mindfulness break. For Cesar, this growth reflects a broader shift: companies and employees are placing ever greater value on health and fitness.

Salem 

What is the business case to the company itself?

Carvalho

We help people change behaviors and get to a healthier life. And we track ROI in three different fronts. The first one is health care costs. Health care cost is probably the single largest expense after payroll for every single company. That cost is growing at a very fast pace, and prevention is the key to save 70% of those costs. And even though that's obvious, only 4% of all spend goes into prevention. A second part is on employee retention and the acquisition of talent. And it's going to be quite clear, for the employees currently working in the company and for prospective employees, that those companies who are embracing well-being, that they care about them. And those companies are going to have an amazing ability to attract people over time and retain the best talent. The last part is on sick leaves. Employees who are active or constantly exercising our engagement with well-being take fewer days off, and therefore they contribute more, not only to their families, to their lives because they're being productive, not sick, but also to their companies as well.

Salem 

In 2019, Cesar decided to move the company’s headquarters from Sao Paulo to New York. Since then, Wellhub has rapidly expanded into major U.S. markets. But growth doesn’t stop in the Americas.

Talk to me about your strategy for further international expansion.

Carvalho

Most companies start in the U.S., they grow very fast, and then they sort the international piece afterwards, and then they struggle with the different currencies, languages, and the localization strategy for every single small market. I think the benefit of Wellhub is that we sorted that international piece first. We sorted the complexity, and we solved for it. And now our most important challenge, which we're executing successfully, is scaling very fast in the U.S., a huge market where well-being is more prevalent than in other places, and it's at the forefront of innovation in this space.

Salem 

The fact that wellness partners are incentivized to join the platform does make you very insulated from the different things that change in the fitness and wellness industry.

Carvalho

I've been doing this for 13 years. It happens all the time. It's like the movies industry: there's a new blockbuster every year. You know, pickleball was the most recent one in the U.S. There are new ones coming. You know, CrossFit was at the peak at some point in time. Zumba, you know, and it will keep happening. And this is what keeps well-being fresh and why companies are better off picking a platform that's constantly getting better over time, versus trying to build each one of these solutions on their own to each of their employees.

Salem 

After stepping away from a traditional corporate path to build a company that reimagines work-life balance, Cesar is now on a mission to turn every organization into a wellness company: one where employees check in with their well-being every day. And that philosophy starts with him.

Salem 

I’ve gotta know, a day-in-the-life of the CEO of Wellhub, what are you doing start to finish?

Carvalho

It starts with a high-intensity workout, a sauna and a shower, before I jump into calls with my team. I try to have a healthy lunch, some meditation, calls with our clients and partners to get feedback and build a better product. I try to use Headspace so I can meditate and to hear sleep stories so I can go to bed on a high note. Look, I use Wellhub every single day: visiting our partners, trying different activities. And to me, that is what makes me a better CEO. But in addition to using Wellhub every single day, even when I'm traveling—last week I was in Germany, used our international check-ins to visit Holmes Place there. This morning we're here at Life Time. I already did my check in the morning, you know, to exercise before I work, so I try to integrate it in my routine. I try to meet with my team in healthy events. You know, so instead of going to a bar, why don't we do a yoga class together or a meditation session together? Meeting with our partners or vendors: why not to do it in a healthy way so that we build on those habits?

Salem 

Can you talk a little bit about your leadership style? How are you able to inspire your employees?

Carvalho

If I had to pick two words, I would pick “empower” and “trust.” Empower because I deeply believe all the decisions in the company, they need to be made, either by my direct reports or by their direct reports. And I'm very big on pushing decision-making down so that we can be the best at making those decisions, considering the perspective of whoever is running the business closest to action. The second thing about trust is about treating employees like adults, giving them flexibility if they need the chance to, like, prioritize well-being and still deliver the results that are expected of them.

Salem 

If I were to go 20 years into the future and look back, what is the type of legacy that you personally and your company would like to leave?

Carvalho

What we're building here is not only critical for individuals themselves—you know, if you're active, if you're exercising, we're going to live longer and we're going to live better lives as well—but this is also critical for society and for companies. My legacy, I want it to be to have every single company be also perceived as a wellness company. And I want well-being not to be something employees do twice a week but for it to be a daily habit. And if that happens in the world, I think my kids are going to live in a better world 20 years from today, and that will be an amazing legacy every person would be very proud to live.

Salem 

Cesar, thank you so much for being here. It was great catching up and learning more about the company.

Carvalho

Thank you for having me, Emeel.

Salem 

The day is not over, though, until we do a workout.

Carvalho

Let’s go for a workout together.

    JOHN

When we started the company, the commitment was to fight cancer, and I think that commitment hasn't changed. In 15 years, the outcomes are so much better: huge breakthroughs that exceed the expectations of what I thought was possible. But that said, 10 million people die a year of cancer. 10 million.

SEAN (V.O.)

Amid the statistics and heartbreak, there are people who refuse to accept the status quo. For them, the expression “curing cancer” isn't just hyperbole. Such is the case for John Oyler, who co-founded BeOne Medicines in 2010 with a vision to bring a radically different approach to drug development. Instead of outsourcing costly trials, BeOne runs them in-house, partners with community oncologists, and expands globally to make research faster, more inclusive, and affordable.

As an analyst who's tracked cancer research for years, I wanted to understand how Oyler—an MIT engineer, Stanford MBA, and former McKinsey consultant—landed in biotech, his chance meeting with co-founder Xiaodong Wang, and why success is measured in lives touched, more than 1.8 million patients and counting.

I'll stumble over the questions.

JOHN

Oh no worries, I'll stumble over the answers.

SEAN

John, thanks for sitting down with us.

JOHN

Pleasure.

SEAN

What inspired you to start BeOne Medicines back in 2010?

JOHN

I've always had a passion to be an entrepreneur, since I was a little kid. I love science, and I wanted to do something meaningful, but I wasn't really sure what as I grew up. Unfortunately, I went through a rough period in my life where I faced the loss of several people extremely close to me, and I decided I really want to dedicate my career to fighting for life and specifically fighting cancer.

I had the good fortune of having a good friend, Xiaodong, who is a brilliant scientist and one of the youngest-ever U.S. Academy of Science scientists. We decided to put the company together [and] try to build a really transformational organization that would fight cancer, but in fighting cancer, [to] try to do that in a way that also is making medicine more affordable and more available to many more people here in the United States and all around the world.

SEAN

How did the two of you connect?

JOHN

I had this epiphany: I really wanted to be in biotech. I didn't have the perfect background, so I asked around like, “Who are the best scientists that exist?” And someone brought up, you know, Xiaodong, and I went and asked to meet him, and he wasn't there, and I forgot about all of that. And six months later or so, this, you know, young guy walks in, and he's wearing tennis shoes and jeans, and he said, “I'm Xiaodong,” and I didn't catch his name when he said it. And I had no idea who it was. About five minutes into the conversation, it dawns on me that it's Xiaodong, and we just totally hit it off. So at that moment, I thought, “If there's a way, you know, in the future, we could do something together, that would just be spectacular.”

We chose BeOne because “Be” is symbolic of what every cancer patient wants. They just want to be here. The “One” has “onc” in it: oncology, because we're fighting cancer every day. In the “One” is also the sense of: we all need to work together as one to fight cancer. When we started the company, what was really different is: we said, “The current system isn't working.” It's just too expensive to make a medicine.

I'm not from the industry, and I looked at it inside-out and said, “Fundamentally, when you analyze this, 75 to 90 percent of the cost is all on clinical trials, which is, you know, incredible. My colleagues would all say it's 250 to 300 thousand dollars per patient in an oncology clinical trial to get one data point. For our major medicine, you know, we've dosed thousands of patients. You can do that math. It's a multibillion-dollar proposition to bring a medicine to market. The industry has largely outsourced this to third party CROs, [who] largely work in the same centers in the major cities in the wealthiest countries in the world, and that's where they're enrolling patients for clinical trials. You know, when you look at this, it's the core competency of the industry, yet it's outsourced.

And when you look at this system, it is very inefficient. It's manual, double entry of data, and then going back to send someone to verify if it matches. In today's world of technology, it doesn't make any sense. So from the beginning, we said, “We're going to be different.” We're going to build this all in-house. We're going to have our own capabilities. We have to build a global team. And that global team has to work here with community oncologists, not just with the wealthiest centers. It has to work across the globe. We started in Australia and Korea and other places. More recently, Brazil and South Africa. It has to open up clinical trial sites there, and that makes everything faster and more affordable. So when you do that, it doesn't just help your company on that one trial. It creates a broader clinical trial pool for the whole industry to use for cancer patients forever.

SEAN

Today, BeOne is solely focused on cancer. Why?

JOHN

We spend about 10 percent of our research outside of cancer, but 90 percent’s on cancer. And this is very important because recently a lot of money shifted from the major companies out of oncology, away from oncology, away from fighting cancer. But for us, there's a lot of patients, there's a lot of clinicians who are committed to fighting cancer. And I think we want to make it very clear we're here. We're increasing what we're doing. We're not decreasing it.

SEAN

How do you decide which treatments to chase, and what treatments excite you the most?

JOHN

So we're working in many major areas of focus. The first area in which we're a true leader is in hematology. And in that area, our medicine Brukinsa is approved in five indications. But one of the most important and broadest areas of need is in CLL, which is a type of leukemia. In addition to that, in solid tumor, we're investing very heavily in breast cancer, in lung cancer, in gastrointestinal cancers, and also in HCC, which is liver cancer.

SEAN

John, how do you create a global, cohesive culture?

JOHN

We absolutely try to be clear about what our mission is, and people really can be excited. It's “fight cancer,” and in that, get medicine to more people in whatever country you're in and all across the world. People love that, and they love it because sometimes they feel like maybe our industry has lost a little bit of that. When I recruit people, sometimes I say, you know, what you have to understand is, you know, you're coming from a bigger organization, perhaps. That's like a cruise ship: you know where you're going, it's pretty luxurious; but like, you're getting off of that ship, and like, you're getting onto one of the explorer ships from years ago. And we think we can find a new world. We're trying to do things completely differently than anyone has before. And you kind of are going to get on the ship, and you're going to realize everyone's rowing like crazy, believing there's a new world out there. And from one perspective, it's insane. But everyone has that belief here, and they really do. And they think it's worth that.

SEAN

You’ve spoken passionately about breaking the cycle, about inequality of access to the most cutting-edge oncology treatments. What are some of the wins that BeOne’s had in this area?

JOHN

One metric by which we measure ourselves is: how many patients are we able to get our cancer treatment to? And I think the number’s over 1.8 million, you know, cancer patients so far. It's a truly remarkable number to have that impact. And it's just the beginning. It's really just the beginning for us. But we're proud of that. We can see that the hypothesis at the beginning: it's there. We can do things better, faster, less expensively. And it's not over. With technology now, because we have our own system, we don't have a third party between us. We can now apply technology much easier than if you're trying to apply technology but there's someone sitting in the middle of it. You can't change their system. People worked incredibly hard so that we could be approved much more quickly in many more countries around the world. For example, Brukinsa’s in probably 60 plus countries. And in some of these countries where we don't even have a commercial opportunity, we've worked through organizations like the Max Foundation to provide medicine from a charitable perspective there to really help patients, even in these countries where you can't get medicine there.

SEAN

What's your proudest achievement in building BeOne?

JOHN

It’s when you hear that the company has helped a patient. That is very meaningful to me, for sure. I think as an entrepreneur and as a leader, I always said my best moment is when I lead a team, and I say, “We're going to do something that everyone thinks is impossible,” and they think I'm crazy, but then we do it. And in general, you get a few reactions. One reaction is, “You've fundamentally changed the way I think about what's possible for the rest of my life.” That's one reaction. The second reaction is, “You know, this is the hardest I ever worked, but it's the most rewarding professional experience I've ever had.”

It's still the same vision. It's the exact vision we started with, and it's working. Now lots of other companies watch the way we do things, and they're trying to change the way they do things. And I think that on the clinical side, this opening up a lot of centers, more centers all over the world that have global clinical trial experience: it's great for the whole industry. It's great for patients. This is the dream: you're doing something that is massively impactful. I'm super, super proud of that.

SEAN

Thank you, John.

JOHN

Thanks so much.

SEAN

Thanks for your time today.