POV: The Narrative Dimension That Changes Everything
February 26, 2026
Healthcare has a Point of View problem.
It’s a pattern I see repeatedly across my pharma narrative benchmarks, with only 1 in 25 expressing a clear POV and communicating it consistently. Even companies that competently describe what they do and how they do it fall short in articulating what they believe and why it matters.
Yet it’s this belief, or Point of View, that creates a narrative’s center of gravity and gives weight to purpose statements, context for innovation claims, and the reasoning behind technical platform descriptions.
What are the 1 in 25 companies doing that others aren’t? They follow the two rules of strong POVs.
1) They contest prevailing wisdom.
Every one of these companies names a prevailing assumption and explicitly challenges it. They don't just say "we're different." They say, "The field has this wrong, and here's what right looks like."
Pacira Biosciences could simply lead with, "We offer non-opioid alternatives." But they go deeper, explaining their belief that opioids aren’t necessary for adequate post-surgical pain management. That’s a direct challenge to an assumption that shaped prescribing behavior for decades.
Roche might have stopped at: "We integrate diagnostics and therapeutics.” Instead, their communications clearly express a belief that developing drugs without co-developed diagnostics produces the wrong drugs for the wrong patients.
2.) They come with a cost.
A strong POV costs something. It can mean the cost of selling off profitable parts of a business that are no longer core, or pursuing a narrower patient population because your belief in the real unmet need demands it.
These are beliefs in action. Stakeholders need to know not only what you’re doing, but what you’ve chosen not to do. Without making a strategic sacrifice, there’s no POV.
Novo Nordisk for years has stated their belief that metabolic disease exists on a spectrum. They’ve built their entire GLP-1 platform on this belief, from diabetes through obesity through cardiovascular outcomes. They passed up on diversification that many peers pursued, and solidified their differentiation.
Novartis said pharmaceutical innovation requires platform depth, not portfolio breadth. Then they divested Sandoz generics, Alcon eye care, and their consumer health unit to prove it.
Where are all the strong POVs?
Pharma companies aren’t short on beliefs. So why do so many lack a clear POV?
Because a strong POV invites disagreement, and healthcare (pharma and biotech in particular) tends to avoid disagreement. They often rely on their approach, methodology, portfolio and priorities to tell their story.
Important elements, for sure, but without a clear POV animating those dimensions, your narrative risks sounding like everyone else’s.
