Tareno Healthcare Funds: Monthly Report January 2026

Market overview

Activity at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference focused mainly on company updates and pre-announcements, while there were no major M&A transactions. The expectation of potential highly valued acquisitions in the areas of obesity and inflammation, including the confirmation of the NLRP3 inhibition target, had a positive short-term impact on sentiment and valuations of individual stocks. Confirmed transactions included Eli Lilly’s acquisition of Ventyx Biosciences, GSK’s purchase of RAPT Therapeutics and Shionogi’s acquisition of Pfizer’s stake in ViiV Healthcare. AstraZeneca also announced an obesity-focused license agreement with CSPC Pharmaceutical Group.

In the MedTech sector, the transaction between Boston Scientific and Penumbra stood out as the biggest deal of the month. However, the initial euphoria waned when several expected biopharma megadeals – including possible takeovers of Revolution Medicines by Merck or AbbVie and of Abivax by Eli Lilly – failed to materialize.

The reporting season picked up speed towards the end of January. The first results were solid overall, although the quality was slightly down on the previous year. Around 90% of companies exceeded EPS expectations, significantly more than in the previous year, although the average extent of earnings surprises was lower. The sales trend was more mixed: around 75% of companies exceeded sales expectations, also above the previous year’s level, while the average sales surprises were lower and remained largely stable year-on-year.

The sector’s performance in January was primarily determined by pharmaceuticals and providers & services (managed care). Pharma confirmed its role as a defensive sector and remained largely protected from the strongest politically induced volatility. The third round of IRA selection for drug price negotiations was moderate overall for pharma; Gilead’s Biktarvy was in the spotlight, but without having any significant negative impact on sentiment among large caps. January also marked the broad US market launch of the first oral GLP-1 weight loss drug.

Managed care, which had started the year strongly, came under pressure towards the end of the month after the Medicare Advantage Advanced Rate Notice for 2027 was published. The proposed payment rates were largely at the current level and therefore below the current trend and industry assumptions. As a result, there was a broad sell-off in managed care stocks, with companies with high MA exposure recording double-digit price losses on average.

Overall, the underlying demand trends in the healthcare sector remained stable, while the pronounced sensitivity to political developments and headlines, particularly at the start of 2026, persisted.

Portfolio Tareno Sustainable Healthcare Fund

Last month , we did not add any new positions and did not sell any existing positions. In January, the Tareno Sustainable Healthcare Fund generated a return of 0.4%, while the benchmark index rose by 1.1%.

The biggest positive contributions were:

• Novo Nordisk (+23 bp): The share benefited from the approval of the new Wegovy pill in the US. In addition, the announcement of the nationwide availability of the oral GLP-1 preparation and the latest weekly US prescription data provided a boost.
• Bachem (+20 bp): Support came from a broker upgrade.
• Roche (+19 bp): Two broker upgrades and the announcement of solid 2025 results strengthened the stock.

The biggest negative contributions were:

• Johnson & Johnson (-57 bp): Not invested.
• Gilead (-29 bp): Not invested.
• Abbott (-29 bp): Shares came under pressure after EPS met expectations but sales fell short of forecasts – mainly due to the Nutrition segment. The sales forecast for 2026 was also lower than expected.

Portfolio Review Tareno Impact Healthcare Fund

Last month, we did not build up any new positions and did not sell any existing positions. In January, the Tareno Impact Healthcare Fund achieved a return of 1.4%.

The biggest positive contributions were:

• BioNTech (+59 bp): The stock benefited from a positive update at the JPM Healthcare Conference. Later, BioNTech received FDA Fast Track Designation for BNT113, an experimental mRNA cancer immunotherapy for patients with HPV16+ head and neck cancer.
• Gilead (+345 bp): Analyst day was well received, plus full results from a Phase 3 study, published in NEJM, supported the combination of Trodelvy plus Keytruda as a potential new first-line standard of care for PD-L1+ metastatic triple-negative breast cancer. The strong prescription growth of Yeztugo also contributed to the performance.
• Novo Nordisk (+26 bp): The stock benefited from the approval of the new Wegovy pill in the US. In addition, the announcement of the nationwide availability of the oral GLP-1 preparation and the latest weekly US prescription data provided a boost.

The largest negative contributions were:

• Humana (-72 bps): US health insurance stocks fell after the Trump administration signaled that Medicare reimbursement rates would remain unchanged for 2027 – well below expectations of 5.0%
• Teladoc (-46 bp): With no company-specific news, the stock reacted to the overall weaker sentiment in the HCIT segment
• Abbott (-39 bp): Shares came under pressure after EPS met expectations but sales fell short of forecasts – mainly due to the Nutrition segment. The sales forecast for 2026 was also lower than expected.