Healthy Updates – December 2025
Life sciences at a crossroads
The latest issue of Life Support explores how shifts in US health policy are redrawing the global life sciences map.
A second Trump term has brought sweeping changes at the FDA and HHS, from reduced use of expert advisory panels to aggressive on-shoring and drug-pricing reforms. For global biopharma, the result is a mix of volatility and opportunity.
Key themes from our latest note include:
- Regulatory unpredictability: fewer external panels and greater internal discretion at the FDA could reshape approval pathways.
- Tariff pressure and localisation: companies from AstraZeneca to Pfizer are pledging billions in US investment to secure tariff relief and pricing certainty.
- Strategic rebalancing: firms may begin launching in Europe or Asia first as the US becomes a more complex regulatory environment.
For UK and European life sciences companies, the policy shift brings both headwinds and opportunities: uncertainty on regulation and pricing, but also incentives for US investment and tariff relief.
Read the full Q4 Life Support sector note for a detailed view from our research team.