Vanguards of Healthcare by Bloomberg Intelligence

“Our focus is really on patients who’ve lost a lot of kidney function, 70 to 75% or even 80% of their kidney function,” says Bruce Culleton, CEO of ProKidney. “They’re on the path to needing a transplant. Despite all the advances in treating patients with newer products over the last few years, patients continue to progress. Our goal is to intervene directly before dialysis and keep patients off dialysis for as long as possible.” In this Vanguards of Healthcare podcast episode, Culleton sits down with Bloomberg Intelligence senior analyst Ann-Hunter van Kirk for an in-depth discussion about how the company’s cell therapy could help delay dialysis and slow the progression of kidney disease.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“We are not a passive capital partner.” Richard Lungen of HC9 Ventures, joins fellow co-founder and general partner Charlie Falcone to explain why their venture firm is built around operators, not financiers. The pair sit down with Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Jonathan Palmer for a wide-ranging discussion of the firm’s operator-led approach to venture investing. They explain how relationships with hundreds of healthcare executives provide unique insight into where the industry is heading, why they spend as much time creating commercial traction as writing checks and how AI is reshaping everything from administrative workflows to clinical decision support. The conversation also examines the venture environment, healthcare’s biggest structural challenges and how their own cancer journeys have strengthened their mission to back companies capable of meaningfully improving patient care while generating strong investment returns.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“I think this is an incredible time to be investing in biotech.” Dr. Simeon George, founder and CEO of SR One, joins Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Sam Fazeli to explain why biotech’s next cycle will be global, selective and unforgiving. George traces SR One’s evolution from one of pharma’s oldest corporate venture arms to an independent firm with more than $2 billion raised. The conversation explores why AI’s real test is cutting development time and attrition, not just discovering targets, while also laying out SR One’s view on oncology crowding, neuro’s blood-brain-barrier challenge, China’s accelerating role in drug innovation and the importance of building companies around medicines that can truly change standard of care.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“You show me the incentive and I’ll show you the behavior,” says Sach Jain, founder and CEO of Carrum Health. Jain joins Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Jonathan Palmer to explain why misaligned incentives sit at the heart of specialty care’s cost problem. Jain details how Carrum built a value-based marketplace around curated centers of excellence, surgeon-level quality data, bundled payments and provider risk, giving employers more predictable costs while offering patients a guided care path with fewer surprise bills. He also discusses specialty care’s $2.5 trillion annual spending, Carrum’s reach across almost 7 million lives, its expanding health-plan partnerships and why AI can either intensify the fee-for-service arms race or help providers prevent complications when incentives are aligned.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“It’s not just gonna be about image quality. It’s gonna be about image quality and interpretation”, Butterfly Network’s CEO Joe DeVivo explains to Bloomberg Intelligence. In this Vanguards of Healthcare podcast episode, DeVivo sits down with BI analyst Matt Henriksson for an in-depth interview to talk about Ultrasound-on-Chip imaging module and the potential of using semiconductor chips to streamline ultrasound as point-of-care option that allows immediate scans and diagnostics. They also discuss the development of Butterfly’s Apollo, a machine designed to be 20x more powerful than its current iQ3 that will create images closer to how the anatomy looks and power its recently announced partnership with Midjourney for a full-body tomographic-imaging machine that utilizes Butterfly’s Ultrasound-on-Chip imaging modules.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“The number one thing that results in a better outcome for someone who is sick is actually, ‘Do you have an advocate on your side?’” says Farid Vij, co-founder and CEO of Citizen Health. Vij joins Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Jonathan Palmer to explain how Citizen Health is building an AI-powered advocate for patients with rare and complex diseases. He discusses the company’s mission to aggregate longitudinal health data, support caregivers, accelerate research and create a future where personalized guidance replaces one-size-fits-all medicine.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“It’s designed to be simple in a way, even though it’s an incredibly complex device”, Distalmotion CEO Greg Roche explains to Bloomberg Intelligence. In this Vanguards of Health Care podcast episode, Roche sits down with BI analyst Matt Henriksson for an in-depth interview on the company, how its Dexter Robotic Surgery System and single-use instrument platform differentiates itself from others in the robotic market and how it can shorten the learning curve that can increase adoption of robots in ambulatory surgical centers.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“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.

“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.

“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.