2 Healthcare Stocks for Individual Investors With a 20-Year Time Horizon

The healthcare industry revolves around constant innovation in areas like biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and digital health. This innovation is leading to new treatments, diagnostic tools, and care delivery models, and can generate significant growth for companies at the forefront of these advancements over the next few decades and beyond.

If you're an individual retail investor searching for healthcare stocks you can buy and hold for at least 20 years, here are two names to consider.

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1. Pfizer

Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) experienced a sharp drop in revenue following the decline of its COVID-19 product sales, and its stock fell accordingly. However, the company has remained laser focused the last few years on transitioning into the next era of its growth story through a series of strategic acquisitions, cost-cutting initiatives, and expanding its robust pipeline.

Pfizer's non-COVID operational revenue continues to improve, thanks to strong performance from newer products like its heart drug Vyndaqel, RSV vaccine Abrysvo, and its bladder cancer treatment Padcev, among many others. The company is also implementing an extensive cost-realignment program to offset lost revenue from its COVID-19 products, upcoming patent cliffs for legacy drugs like Eliquis and Ibrance, and boost profitability overall.

Management is targeting a net savings total of $7.2 billion by 2027. Oncology is a major focus of Pfizer's post-COVID strategy. The $43 billion acquisition of Seagen significantly expanded Pfizer's cancer drug portfolio and research pipeline, and Pfizer projects at least eight blockbuster oncology medicines by 2030.

The company's current pipeline includes candidates for conditions such as ulcerative colitis, hemophilia, and obesity. Pfizer's obesity drug ambitions were bolstered by the recent acquisition of Metsera, as the company looks to join the GLP-1 drug race. In a phase 2a trial, participants who received a weekly dose of Metsera's lead GLP-1 candidate achieved a mean weight loss of up to 14.2% at 28 weeks.

In the first half of 2025, Pfizer reported net income of $5.9 billion on revenue of $28.4 billion. That bottom-line figure represented an 86% improvement from the same period in 2024, while its top line was roughly in line with the year-ago time frame. Revenue in Q2 grew 10%. Given the lackluster share price performance Pfizer has experienced of late, its dividend now yields close to 7%. The company has an impressive track record of consistently boosting its dividend, too.

While this is a period of transition for Pfizer -- a cycle that all big pharma companies encounter as older patents expire and new drugs come to market -- this is still a profitable company with an impressive road to future growth ahead. For long-term investors with a well-diversified portfolio and a multi-decade horizon, you might just have the time and patience to follow Pfizer's promising growth story and be glad you did.

2. Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX) has been known for years now for its profitable cystic fibrosis drug franchise, led by its star drug, Trikafta. When Trikafta was approved several years ago in the U.S., its approval covered about 90% of cystic fibrosis patients. While the company remains focused on serving the cystic fibrosis market, it has set its sights to other key areas of the rare-disease drug market.

Vertex has enacted or continued several key launches in 2025. These include its new once-daily triple-combination therapy for cystic fibrosis called Alyftrek, and Journavx, a non-opioid medicine for moderate to severe acute pain, which is gaining traction with payers and has seen strong early prescription numbers.

It's also been a pivotal year for the launch of Casgevy, the gene-editing therapy it developed with CRISPR Therapeutics for sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent thalassemia and which is gaining global momentum with over 75 authorized treatment centers established to date.

The company is advancing its investigational therapy povetacicept for the treatment of two serious autoimmune kidney diseases: IgA nephropathy (IgAN) and primary membranous nephropathy (pMN). Management is planning for regulatory submissions in 2025 and 2026.

Then there's zimislecel, a stem-cell-derived, insulin-producing islet cell therapy being developed by Vertex Pharmaceuticals for people with type 1 diabetes. The therapy aims to restore the body's ability to regulate glucose levels.

Clinical trials for zimislecel are currently in phase 3, with regulatory submissions planned for the next year. Encouraging phase 1/2 data showed that after one year, 10 of the 12 participants no longer required daily insulin injections. The average daily insulin dose for all 12 patients was also reduced by 92%.

The company is also working on therapies for neuropathic pain and other diseases like APOL1-mediated kidney disease (AMKD) and autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD).

In Q2 2025, Vertex reported revenue of $2.96 billion (up 12% year over year) and earnings per share of $3.99. That bottom-line figure marked a significant turnaround from Q2 2024, when the company incurred a substantial loss due to a one-time charge from a major acquisition. Historically speaking though, Vertex has been quite profitable.

Vertex is still in the early days of its growth journey, so if you have an investment horizon of decades, there's plenty of time to benefit from management's long-term ambitions. Its established leadership in the cystic fibrosis treatment space has built a solid foundation upon which Vertex is well-positioned to reach even greater levels of success, and that can turn into enviable share price appreciation in the coming decades.

Rachel Warren has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends CRISPR Therapeutics, Pfizer, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.