Summary4 min read

Podcast Summary: Becker Business

Episode: Market Trends and Investor Opportunities in Healthcare with Holly Buckley of McGuireWoods LLP
Date: September 3, 2025
Host: Scott Becker
Guest: Holly Buckley (Chair, Healthcare Department, McGuireWoods LLP)

Episode Overview

In this engaging conversation, Scott Becker sits down with Holly Buckley, a leading healthcare attorney and policy influencer, to discuss the most pressing trends affecting private equity (PE) and investment in the healthcare sector. Holly brings her experience at the nexus of healthcare law and PE, offering actionable insights on investor behavior, regulatory dynamics, manufacturing reshoring, and deal market activity.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Surge in Onshoring Fueled by Private Equity

[01:02 - 02:30]

Trend: Holly highlights a recent "onshoring wave" in contract manufacturing, largely driven by private equity. There's been accelerated consolidation and investment in domestic pharmaceutical and biotech manufacturing facilities.
Drivers: Increased demand for faster delivery, lower costs, and resilient domestic supply chains are key motivators.
Quote:

“Private capital is strategically placing bets on resilient domestic supply chains ready to scale manufacturing capacity.”
— Holly Buckley [01:32]
Risks: Holly notes ongoing risks tied to the political environment, as future policy shifts could impact the economic viability of these investments.

2. Uncertainty After CDC/FDA Shakeups and Vaccine Policy Changes

[02:30 - 05:18]

Events: Holly reviews major leadership changes at the CDC, including the abrupt firing of the director and resignations by senior scientists, alongside FDA moves to restrict updated COVID vaccine access.
Market Impact: The resulting uncertainty is creating nervousness for investors around vaccine R&D, availability, and distribution chains—potentially opening doors for private sector solutions in data analytics, laboratory services, and infrastructure.
Quote:

“I think there’s also going to be likely a less centralized federal approach to vaccines and public health, which may create opportunities in the private sector...”
— Holly Buckley [04:27]
Open Questions: The future landscape is unclear as policy and public health direction remain unsettled.

3. Revocation of the Federal Competition Executive Order

[04:57 - 05:22]

Policy Shift: The Biden-era executive order demanding stricter antitrust scrutiny (including in healthcare) has been revoked.
Possible Effects: While the FTC and DOJ still call for aggressive enforcement, Holly forecasts that healthcare M&A may face somewhat less regulatory friction, creating a more favorable climate for deals—even if not fully reverting to a hands-off stance.
Quote:

“...likely to see a less regulated sector than there would have been in the last year or two.”
— Holly Buckley [05:17]

4. Onshoring Sustainability and Investor Dilemmas

[05:22 - 06:43]

Host Analysis: Scott questions if onshoring will last or simply reflect the current administration’s trend, raising concerns about making large, irreversible capital investments amid policy uncertainty.
Holly's Response: She emphasizes that bipartisan support for onshoring makes policy reversal unlikely, but cautions that any new incentives to offshore could threaten these investments.
Quote:

“Big capital investments become very problematic if the economics aren’t there to support them on a go forward basis.”
— Holly Buckley [06:38]

5. Deal Market Activity and Private Equity Exits

[06:43 - 07:37]

Current Activity: Despite ongoing challenges for large PE funds in completing exits, Holly notes an encouraging increase in deal volume, both in large transactions and roll-ups, since the start of the year’s second half.
Quote:

“We’ve seen a big uptick... This has kind of been the speed up and the pickup that we’ve been waiting for and we seem to be in it right now.”
— Holly Buckley [07:14]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

Reshoring as a Major Investment Trend:
“It’s super interesting. And this is drugs and bio stimulants and such that are being manufactured now in the US versus overseas.”
— Holly Buckley [01:59]
On Changes in Vaccine Access:
“On the same day the FDA limited its updated COVID-19 vaccines to high risk groups... news around how big pharmacies are going to deal with this and the availability of drugs and things like that.”
— Holly Buckley [02:55]
On the Investment Outlook Amid Policy Volatility:
“If people make big investments on capital projects onshore, it would be very unpopular for policy to come along that then made it very difficult for that to continue.”
— Holly Buckley [05:57]

Timestamps for Key Segments

[01:02] – Holly Buckley introduces the onshoring trend and PE’s role
[02:30] – Discussion of CDC/FDA shakeups and impacts on vaccine markets
[04:57] – Executive order revocation and implications for healthcare M&A
[05:22] – Scott and Holly debate the durability of onshoring investments
[06:43] – Private equity exits and current deal market environment

Summary Flow & Tone

The discussion is fast-paced, candid, and analytical, drawing on up-to-the-minute policy shifts, deal activity, and market sentiment. Holly Buckley’s perspectives are practical and cautiously optimistic, balancing current enthusiasm with realism about regulatory and political uncertainty. Scott Becker’s probing questions add industry context, helping listeners grasp complex market dynamics in a down-to-earth, conversational style.

For investors and industry watchers, this episode spotlights the interconnected challenges—and new opportunities—shaping healthcare investment as 2025 unfolds.

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Transcript9 lines

[00:02]
A
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[00:32]
B
This is Scott Becker with the Becker Business Minute Podcast and the Becker Private Equity Podcast. We're thrilled today to be joined by Holly Buckley. Holly heads up the healthcare department at McGuire Woods. She also works at the intersection of healthcare and private equity. She's also the board member on a not for profit healthcare institution. Just a wonderful leader. Holly, gonna ask you today, what are you seeing in the private equity deal market, particularly in health care? What are you watching? What are you saying?
[01:02]
C
Yeah, thanks Scott. And so thank you for having me on A couple of things they thought were interesting recently. Last week the Wall Street Journal reported that they're seeing a private equity fueled on shoring wave kind of reshoring and on shoring wave respect to contract manufacturing organizations. And so essentially fueled by a demand for speed and cost efficiency, investors are consolidating this sector and opening onshore facilities. And so they observe that there's been a fair amount of recent transactions that underscore that private capital is strategically placing bet on resilient domestic supply chains ready to scale manufacturing capacity. And so it's obviously still a risk. We don't know what's going to happen politically in the next few years, but we see they report that they're seeing more interest than opportunity in this space and opportunities are rapidly being transacted on. So it's super interesting. And this is drugs and bio stimulants and such that are being manufactured now in the US versus overseas. And so that's one just super interesting trend that we've seen kind of in the last probably six to nine months really taking off. The next thing that I think I don't really know what the implications are, but it's interesting nonetheless. And I think most people have heard about is the CDC leadership shakeup and FDA vaccine decisions where we're not quite sure where things are going to go there and what the impact's going to be. But essentially there was the termination of the CDC director on August 27, less than a month after the Senate confirmation. And then there was the resignation of several senior scientists at cdc. And then on the same day the FDA limited its updated COVID 19 vaccines to high risk groups, meaning that most adults and children will require a prescription or have no access to COVID 19 vaccines. And there's been kind of news around how big pharmacies are going to deal with this and the availability of drugs and things like that. And, and so I think that's going to create a fair amount of uncertainty in the industry as investors are not sure how things are going to shake out with respect to vaccines, vaccine development, research and things like that. And so I think more to come here in terms as the dust battles in terms of where things are going to go. But I think that there's also going to be likely a less centralized federal approach to vaccines and public health which may create opportunities in the private sector for things like data analytics and lab services and infrastructure. And maybe there'll be opportunities for investors and strategic operators in this space to be able to take more of a leadership role. But I think just more, more to come here and everything's very much still in the air. And I think the final thing that's pretty interesting is the White House revoked competition executive order and so there was a Biden era executive order on competition. So we're talking about antitrust and that had directed agencies to increase scrutiny of consolidation across industries including health care. And that has now been revoked. And so we're still hearing from FTC and DOJ leadership for their emphasizing a continued need for robust conservative antitrust enforcement and actions in news and entertainment and big, big tech. But it's interesting in terms of this retraction of the executive order and what it's going to mean for health care, M and A And again, I think still more to come. I don't think there's going to be a full rollback where there's a less active enforcement kind of function within the federal government where it comes to health care. But I do think we're likely to see a less regulated sector than there would have been kind of in the last year or two. And that we thought they were going to be in the year or two.
[05:23]
B
Thank you very, very much. The vaccine thing is fascinating. So political, so interesting, Such a mess. The less regulatory oversight of healthcare transactions. Certainly a lot of the industry will look forward to that. And then people bringing manufacturing back onshore, I guess we'll see how long that lasts, where that becomes a long term trend or just a trend for this administration. And if it's just a trend for this administration, it's very hard to make big capital plans if you're not likely to see it stay that way for the long term, it's very hard.
[05:57]
C
But I mean, I have to think that if people make big investments on capital projects onshore, it would be very unpopular for policy to come along. That then made it very difficult for that to continue. I think that most American taxpayers probably believe that onshore production is a good thing. But of course, if there's rollbacks of tariffs, tariffs and more incentives for things to go offshore, then maybe we'll see that. But that's where I think it's very difficult right now. Because while there's all these incentives for people to onshore at this point, you're right, big capital investments become very problematic if the economics aren't there to support them on a go forward basis.
[06:44]
B
Right? No, exactly, exactly. No. Thank you. That's absolutely fascinating. And Holly, anything else you're watching closely currently? Are you hearing sort of the motors of PE moving in the right direction? I know the huge PE funds, the kkrs, the Blackstones are having a little bit of a challenging years because they're not getting the exits done they want to get done. But what are you seeing out there in terms of exits and so forth?
[07:08]
C
Yeah, we're, we're busy. I mean, we're, we've seen a big uptick since I'd say a little before the beginning of the second half of the year. We're seeing a lot of activity both on the kind of the larger deal side as well as the roll up side. And so things do seem to be moving in the right direction. We'll see if it sticks. But this has kind of been the speed up and the pickup that we've been waiting for and we seem to be in it right now.
[07:38]
B
Fascinating. Holly, as always, I love you sharing your insights with us as to what you're seeing in the deal market and the business market. Thank you for joining us today on the Becker Business Podcast, the Becker Private Equity Podcast. Look forward to visiting with you more shortly. Thank you very, very much.
[07:52]
C
Thank you.