Pharmaceutical/healthcare primer

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From my experience, there isn't really a primer addressing the sector for many good reasons. The sector is always changing, with innovation, new regulations, new subsidies etc. It is quite difficult to create a primer than is still relevant 1/2/3 years down the road. Might be worth looking into individual research papers addressing a specific issue of healthcare such as pricing and speaking to colleagues who have worked on a certain aspect of healthcare. I would say it is mostly on the job experience rather than being able to simply "read and become an expert". 

Bump

There is an old DB equity research primer on pharma that covers development, lifecycle… probably from 2012-2013 but golden. You’ll find it on Thomsonone or equivalent with a bit of effort.

Cs had decent CRO coverage a little while back and good sector notes

Rbc initiated cdmos sector last year

Cowen have great thematic reports for pharma / biotech - more advanced and technology focused though.

Gsk spin-off Haleon earlier his year has been covered by all major firms - have a look at initiations for a good OTC read

Alcon spun off from novartis was a major medtech listing, check initiations.

Oxford nanopore IPO for life science / tools. Some good reports from Cowen on this sector too, and also diagnostics.

Siemens healthineers 2018 IPO for some good capital equipment / diagnostics initiations

A good tip for learning about any industry is by googling “[Big 4 accounting firm]+[[industry]] insights”

so PwC healthcare insights for example. These firms publish lots of reports you can skim through to see what’s new in the industry. Helps prep you for interviews too by giving you insightful high-level industry questions that MDs like to answer.