The Next Crisis Won’t Wait: Why Pandemic Preparedness Is a Business Imperative

Pandemic risk extends beyond public health. COVID‑19 exposed how biological events can disrupt industries and destabilize global markets.

For businesses, global health security —the ability to protect against the negative impacts of disease outbreaks — is too important to be left solely to the public sector. Industry has a vital interest in helping countries better prepare for future epidemics and pandemics.

During an NTI-hosted panel at the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in January 2026, industry leaders discussed why pandemic preparedness matters for business and how the private sector can use data and partnerships to help reduce the risks and impacts of future health crises.

Global Health Security Matters for Industry 

The COVID-19 pandemic was the largest global economic shock in more than 100 years. There were trillions of dollars in losses across industries globally. National health system breakdowns and volatile regulatory environments cascaded into workforce shortages, manufacturing delays, and trade interruptions.

Supply chains were especially affected. Nearly 75 percent of multinational firms reported supply-chain disruptions linked to health-system failures or policy constraints. This prompted companies to rethink resilience strategies and accelerate investments in supply‑chain transformation.

Threats Are Outpacing Preparedness 

Pandemic risks are not hypothetical. They are real, accelerating, and increasingly likely to emerge again in the near future. Forecasting consultancy Airfinity has estimated a 28 percent chance of a COVID-like pandemic by 2033.

There are three crucial ways in which the risk and consequences of the next biological crisis are increasing, and businesses can’t afford to ignore them.

First, fragile health systems increase risk. The Global Health Security (GHS) Index reports that 70% of countries lack sufficient clinical and community health capacity to manage large outbreaks. Weak infrastructure leads to partial or systemic collapse during biological shocks, leading to economic and operational disruption.

Second, technology is leaping ahead of regulation. Rapid innovation—especially in AI‑enabled biological design—brings extraordinary benefits but also significant risks. For example, tech advances can accelerate drug discovery while also lowering barriers to designing or modifying pathogens for harm. A National Academies report notes that AI tools are rapidly improving biological design capabilities while governance frameworks to prevent misuse lag.

“We know that the risk management systems we have in place today, in both the public and private sectors, haven’t kept up with this technological change,” said Jaime M. Yassif, PhD, a senior advisor to NTI | bio. “From a business perspective, that should be deeply concerning because it creates significant vulnerabilities.”

Finally, preparedness is falling off. Funding and investment for pandemic preparedness continues to decline globally. The U.S. government has significantly scaled back investments in domestic and international pandemic preparedness, and similar trends have emerged in Europe. As investments decline, vulnerabilities widen and these could amplify the anticipated negative impacts of future health crises—including across commercial sectors.

Pandemic Risk Reduction is Good Business

Pandemic risk is not fixed. With targeted investment and action, the probability of catastrophic biological events could be significantly reduced.

The private sector brings powerful assets like supply chain intelligence, manufacturing capacity, and digital monitoring. Prepositioning these assets through public-private partnerships will enable rapid response, contributing to a resilient environment that reduces systemic risk.

As Michelle McMurry-Heath, founder and CEO of BioTechquity Clinical, observed, “The threat landscape is evolving and so is the environment for doing business in health. Biopharma and biotech and the healthcare industry have to adapt incredibly quickly, particularly in this post-pandemic era.”

Industry plays a critical role in responding to a crisis once it emerges, but businesses can also help reduce the likelihood that a pandemic will start in the first place. While DNA synthesis technology drives major breakthroughs, it is also inherently dual-use—posing risks in a world where 94 percent of countries lack oversight for dual-use biological research. Despite the short-term costs, Twist Bioscience screens both DNA sequences and customers. Twist CEO Emily Leproust noted that this strategy lowers the chance of contributing—intentionally or not—to a catastrophic event and reduces long-term financial and reputational risks.

Data Drives Risk Mitigation 

Data can turn awareness into action. The GHS Index and the forthcoming Africa Health Security Index offer key insights on countries, such as the strength of biosecurity systems, supply chain resilience, support of medical countermeasure development, and deployment capacity, to help target impactful investments. The GHS Index’s country assessments identify geographic and operational risks. This data can support wider business intelligence and industry decision making.

Roughly half of the world’s countries can access medical countermeasures in a pandemic—but only 11 percent have plans on how to deliver them. This gap shows openings to expand business in last-mile delivery, emergency logistics, cold chain infrastructure, and digital deployment systems.  Index data provide strategic intelligence, explained Allison Neale, head of government strategic initiatives and global health security at Henry Schein, Inc. “It can help us see where we are structurally exposed and where the particular investments we make in preparedness can be the most valuable.”

Industry leaders should leverage data and modern tools to strengthen resilience and reduce risk, while partnering across the private sector and with governments, NGOs, and multilateral institutions. Data like the GHS Index provide vital intelligence for businesses to build resilience even as they tend to the bottom line.

Neale summarized, “preparedness is fundamental to the protection of business interests … it is a core business strategy.”