Top Health Care Stocks To Watch This Upcoming Week
In a bearish year so far for the stock market, the start of July has been a relief for many investors. Major U.S. indices appear to be attempting a recovery led by broad-based gains across sectors. Now, could this be a sign of better days ahead? With that said, safer investments such as health care stocks could be in focus. For most parts, health care stocks often hold their ground even during turbulent times. Many companies within the sector are relatively stable as their products and services are needed even at times of recession.
Nevertheless, the health care industry can also be exciting at times. For the longest time, the industry has been hard at work developing treatments for cancer. Earlier this week, reports said Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) is in talks to buy the cancer biotech company Seagen (NASDAQ: SGEN) for approximately $40 billion. Seagen now has four approved oncology treatments. Backing from a company of Merck’s magnitude could be beneficial for the development of Seagen’s pipeline products. All in all, here are some of the top health care stocks to watch in the stock market today.
Health Care Stocks To Buy [Or Sell] Now
- Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ: VRTX)
- Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVAX)
- Adaptive Biotechnologies Corp (NASDAQ: ADPT)
- Beam Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: BEAM)
Vertex Pharmaceuticals
Firstly, we have the global biotechnology company, Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Essentially, this is a company that focuses on the development of medicines. Specifically, for the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis (CF). Besides that, Vertex also has a pipeline of investigational therapies in other serious diseases where it leverages insight into human biology. This includes sickle cell disease, type 1 diabetes, pain, beta-thalassemia, and more. In fact, the company announced earlier this week that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has lifted the clinical hold placed on its Phase 1/2 clinical trial of VX-880. The drug is an investigational stem cell-derived, fully differentiated pancreatic islet cell replacement therapy for people with type 1 diabetes.
Furthermore, Vertex also signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with the pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance (pCPA). The letter represents an agreement in principle regarding the public reimbursement of TRIKAFTA for patients ages 6 years and older who have at least one F508del mutation in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene. Not only is this a huge milestone for the company, but this new recommendation will be a huge boost for all people living with CF in Canada. So, would you consider VRTX stock as a top health care stock to buy?
Novavax
Another health care stock making significant movement lately would be Novavax. Put simply, this is a biotech company that specializes in developing vaccines to treat infectious diseases. As it stands, the company’s portfolio consists of vaccines for Ebola, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus among other emerging infectious illnesses. Also worth noting, the company is actively working on a coronavirus vaccine. NVAX stock is among the most bullish stocks in the health care sector today. Over the past month, the stock has soared more than 45% and is showing little signs of slowing down.
Among an array of encouraging developments, the latest that contributed to its momentum would be related to its Nuvaxovid COVID-19 vaccine. On Tuesday, the European Commission gave the green light for conditional marketing authorization of the vaccine in the European Union for adolescents aged 12 through 17. The approval builds on data from a Phase 3 trial of 2,247 adolescents within the same age group across 73 sites in the U.S. It was found that Nuvaxovid achieved its primary effectiveness endpoint and showed 80% clinical efficacy overall at a time when the Delta variant was the predominant strain in the U.S. Keeping this in mind, would you consider jumping on the NVAX stock bandwagon?
Adaptive Biotechnologies
Similar to Novavax, Adaptive Biotechnologies is a company that has been quietly building momentum recently. For those unaware, it is a commercial-stage company that focuses on the human adaptive immune system to develop the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Its immune medicine platform combines a suite of chemistry, biology, and machine learning to generate clinical immunomics data to decode the adaptive immune system. For now, the company’s commercial research products include immunoSEQ and immunoSEQ T-MAP. ADPT stock has still risen more than 30% within the past week.
In June, the company launched the T-Detect™ Lyme. This is a test that detects an immune response by leveraging the body’s unique T-cell response to disease-associated antigens. The test will identify T-cells activated by Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that leads to Lyme disease. Therefore, allowing an earlier diagnosis for patients with Lyme disease. With that in mind, should investors keep a closer tab on ADPT stock?
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Beam Therapeutics
To sum up the list, we have Beam Therapeutics. In detail, it is a biotech company that focuses on precision genetic medicines based on its base editing technology. Base editors enable precise rewriting of a single letter of a gene without making a double-stranded break in the DNA. As it stands, Beam has four development candidates, which include BEAM-101, BEAM-102, BEAM-201, and BEAM-301. As genetic medicine becomes increasingly relevant in the health care industry, Beam will likely play a role in the maturation of the sector. Therefore, it would not be surprising if investors will be paying more attention to BEAM stock moving forward.
Investors should note that BEAM stock has been trending upwards lately, rising more than 25% over the past month. Recently, it appears that the company has entered into an amended and restated collaboration and license agreement with Verve Therapeutics (NASDAQ: VERV). Under the amendment, Beam granted Verve a license toward an additional liver-mediated cardiovascular disease target. The company has two options following the final dosing of patients in the Phase 1 trial of a licensed product for such gene. Not to mention, the new agreement also grants Beam the option to obtain a non-exclusive license to Verve’s GalNAc-LNP delivery technology. Overall, these new amendments appear to be a positive development. Having said that, does BEAM stock have a spot on your watchlist?
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