In this article, we will look at the 10 Best Performing Pharma Stocks So Far in 2025.
What’s Going on in the Pharma Sector?
On February 20, Jared Holz, Mizuho healthcare sector strategist, appeared on ‘Squawk Box’ to discuss the potential challenges and opportunities the pharmaceutical industry may face under the new Trump administration. Talking about the pharma’s agenda in Washington, where the big names of the pharma industry were set to meet with President Trump on February 20, Holz said that while it is tough to talk about the valuation of pharma companies, the significance of the meeting is to have a sort of collaborative effort between the industry and the government to see where they can move things over time. The stocks have exhibited either a little bit or a lot of worry over the RFK front, the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services. This was based on the nomination made last year, along with the comments made by either him or other appointees to this government.
Looking at the pharma and biotech sector, Holz opined that much of the underperformance of the past few years can be attributed to the nebulousness surrounding policies. The industry is now facing the current administration, which is much more apt to be rogue in terms of policy by many accounts. That has put a lid on the subsectors and their performance in the industry. He said that at some point, the pharma industry will thaw. While he isn’t sure which factors could potentially lead to this thawing, he is sure about the outcome, as there is likely to be a more definitive strategy and plan for how things would go in the industry. The February 20 meeting of the pharma industry’s biggest lobbying group with President Trump could be a factor behind this potential outcome.
We recently discussed the healthcare sector and its dynamics in the stock market in a recently published article on the 10 Best Performing Healthcare Stocks So Far in 2025. Here is an excerpt from the article:
“Despite the ongoing craze surrounding the GLP-1 obesity drugs, the healthcare sector was a lagger last year. On January 3, Jared Holz, Mizuho Securities America’s healthcare sector strategist, appeared on CNBC’s ‘Squawk on the Street’ to talk about the healthcare sector’s outlook in 2025. While he anticipates another year of underperformance for the sector, he also believes that healthcare has “been so bad, maybe it’s gonna be good” in 2025.
Holz further said that the healthcare sector presents a calamity since there aren’t a lot of easy spaces in the domain. Other industry verticals, such as technology and financials, are well set up. Healthcare, in contrast, appears to have several variables in place, and most of them are not positive. However, he believed that the MedTech sector provides a sort of safety net in such a tumultuous sector.”
Where Does India Come in With Trump’s Tariffs?
On February 13, Ramesh Swaminathan, Global CFO of pharmaceutical company Lupin, appeared on CNBC to talk about where India comes in, in the materialization and effects of Trump’s tariffs. He warned that the tariffs may deny a number of American citizens access to critical medications, as a substantial share of these pharmaceutical drugs comes from India. According to CNBC, US imports of pharmaceutical products totaled $176 billion from overseas and $6 billion from China in 2023.
Swaminathan said that since nearly 45% to 50% of the pharmaceuticals sold in America are of Indian origin, the tariffs will undoubtedly impact the common person. However, since there are several reciprocal tariffs in the works, it is difficult to understand what ultimately would happen in the industry, and a number of scenarios are open for discussion.
With these trends in view, let’s look at the 10 best-performing pharma stocks so far in 2025.
A closeup of pills in a pharmacy, representing the high quality medications of the company.
Our Methodology
We used Finviz to screen pharma stocks and looked at their year-to-date (YTD) performance, as of February 20, 2025, to select the best performing stocks. We also included the number of hedge fund holders for each stock as of Q4 2024. We sourced the hedge fund sentiment data from Insider Monkey’s database. The list is sorted in ascending order of year-to-date performance.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 363.5% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 208 percentage points (see more details here).
10 Best Performing Pharma Stocks So Far in 2025
10. Royalty Pharma Plc (NASDAQ:RPRX)
YTD Performance: 30.05%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 39
Royalty Pharma Plc (NASDAQ:RPRX) is a funder of innovation in the biopharmaceutical industry and a buyer of biopharmaceutical royalties. It collaborates with innovators from research hospitals, non-profits, and academic institutions through small and mid-cap biotech companies to global pharma companies. The company funds innovation in the industry both directly, by partnering with companies to co-fund late-stage clinical trials and new product launches in exchange for future royalties, and indirectly, by acquiring existing royalties from the original innovators. Royalty Pharma Plc’s (NASDAQ:RPRX) portfolio includes royalties in over 35 commercial products, including Johnson & Johnson’s Tremfya, AbbVie and Johnson & Johnson’s Imbruvica, Novartis’ Promacta, Pfizer’s Xtandi, Pfizer’s Nurtec ODT, and others.
The company delivered $2.8 billion in Portfolio Receipts for fiscal year 2024, at the high end of its guidance range. This reflects a 13% growth, significantly exceeding its initial guidance of 5% to 9%. In 2025, Royalty Pharma Plc (NASDAQ:RPRX) expects Portfolio Receipts of $2.9 billion to $3.05 billion. It has added royalties on AD therapy to its portfolio, including four development space therapies.
The company is seeing positive news across its portfolio, including the FDA approval of Voranigo for brain cancer, Tremfya for ulcerative colitis, and Cobenfy for schizophrenia. It deployed capital of $2.8 billion to further broaden its portfolio, along with $230 million for share repurchases. Its Board recently authorized a new $3 billion share repurchase plan, and Royalty Pharma Plc (NASDAQ:RPRX) intends to repurchase $2 billion in 2025. The company ranks tenth on our list of the 10 best performing pharma stocks so far in 2025.
Patient Capital Opportunity Equity Strategy stated the following regarding Royalty Pharma plc (NASDAQ:RPRX) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“While Royalty Pharma plc (NASDAQ:RPRX) is in the healthcare space, it is more like an investment firm that buys royalty assets in the healthcare space. The company has an extremely strong track record, running the business for over 20 years as a private fund before bringing it public. The market opportunity for external royalty funding has only grown as early-stage start-ups need funding and legacy players are looking to lower their debt levels. We think Royalty Pharma is perfectly positioned as the partner of choice. The company is disciplined, maintaining deal internal rate of returns (IRRs) in the low-teens despite the higher interest rate environment. We think as the company continues to deliver as a public company, the market will start paying attention.”
9. Travere Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:TVTX)
YTD Performance: 33.75%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 39
Travere Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:TVTX) is a biopharmaceutical company that identifies, develops, and delivers therapies for rare kidney and metabolic diseases. Its product, FILSPARI (sparsentan), reduces proteinuria in individuals with primary IgAN at risk of rapid disease progression.
The company’s commercial products, Thiola and Thiola EC, treat cystinuria, a rare genetic cystine transport disorder. Investors are bullish on the stock as Travere Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:TVTX) recently announced the successful completion of its Type C meeting with the FDA and plans to submit a supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) seeking traditional approval of filspari for focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), a rare kidney disorder. The sNDA is expected to be submitted around the end of the first quarter of 2025.
Since there are currently no approved medicines for this progressive and rare kidney disorder, Filspari could become the first and only medicine to treat FSGS if approved, and thus has immense potential. 39 hedge funds hold stakes in Travere Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:TVTX) as of fiscal Q3 2024, and it ranks ninth on our list.