Top Health Care Stocks To Watch In The Stock Market This Week
Health care stocks are one of the most significant sectors in the stock market. In fact, health care was a defensive play even before the pandemic. But with more people infected with COVID-19 facing long-term health problems, the demand for health care could be on the rise. Health care companies including those that sell medical supplies, offer medical services, or even provide real estate for medical organizations are all expected to benefit. These could range from biotech companies such as Moderna Inc (NASDAQ: MRNA) which is one of the household names for COVID-19 vaccines to retail pharmacy chains such as CVS Health Corp (NYSE: CVS).
Another major demographic trend we can’t ignore is the aging U.S. population. This is why health care stocks should see growth moving forward. Besides that, there are also economic reasons behind investing in top health care stocks as well. In fact, according to National Health Expenditure data, national health spending in the U.S. is projected to reach $6.2 trillion by 2028. For this reason, the domestic health care industry will get the support needed to thrive under the Affordable Care Act. So if you agree with the importance of health care, do you think this would translate to health care stocks as well? Now let us take a look at some of the best health care stocks in the stock market today.
Best Health Care Stocks To Buy [Or Sell] Today
- Reata Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: RETA)
- Genetron Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ: GTH)
- I-Mab (NASDAQ: IMAB)
- Merck & Co., Inc (NYSE: MRK)
Reata Pharmaceuticals
Let’s start off with the clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company Reata Pharmaceuticals. The company focuses on identifying, developing, and commercializing product candidates for a range of serious or life-threatening diseases. Its leading product candidates include bardoxolone methyl and Omaveloxolone. While the RETA stock has been moving sideways for the most part of the year, it received a boost on Thursday. Now let us see what stimulated this movement.
Reata announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has requested the company to submit a request for a pre-NDA meeting for Omaveloxolone for the treatment of Friedreich’s Ataxia. The Division of Neurology Products suggested that the company withdraw the current meeting request for a Type C meeting.
Instead, request a pre-NDA meeting, which the Division will grant upon receipt. This is significant as it could potentially be a big step for the approval of Omaveloxolone. Given that there is no known cure at this point for Friedreich’s Ataxia, approval of this drug would be monumental for the company. Hence, would RETA stock be worth investing in now?
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Genetron Holdings
Genetron Holdings Limited is a precision oncology company that specializes in cancer molecular profiling. It also harnesses technologies in molecular biology and data science to transform cancer treatment. The company has developed a comprehensive product and service portfolio that covers the full cycle of cancer care from early screening to diagnosis and treatment recommendations, to continuous monitoring and continuous care. The company operates its businesses primarily within the China market. GTH stock has been up by over 60% since the start of the year.
The company has been on a flurry of partnerships this month. Just yesterday, Genetron announced a strategic partnership with JD Health, a subsidiary of JD.com, Inc (NASDAQ: JD), and the largest online health care platform in China. Both parties aim to create innovative solutions for full-cycle cancer management.
In addition to that, there was also another partnership announced last week with Siemens Healthineers at the China Medical Equipment Fair. This partnership aims to promote large-scale application of Genetron’s S5 platform and lung cancer 8-gene IVD assay in hospitals. As a result, it would provide non-small cell lung cancer patients with efficient and accurate personalized diagnosis and treatment guidance. Given its impressive rate of expansion, would you give GTH stock a go?
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I-Mab
I-Mab is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that commits to the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel or highly differentiated biologics. The company aims to treat diseases with significant unmet medical needs, particularly cancers and autoimmune disorders. As a company not involved in COVID-19 vaccines, the health care company stock has been performing extremely well. Impressively, it has risen by more than 220% over the past year with its bullish trend still intact.
Investors have been keeping their eyes on IMAB stock in response to the company’s early data on Uliledlimab/Atezolizumab combo in advanced cancer settings. More detailed data of the trial will be unveiled at the 2021 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting which will be taking place next month.
I-Mab touted a 23% objective response rate and disease control rate of 46% in the study among 13 evaluable patients with several different types of advanced cancers. The results are very encouraging in terms of the potential therapeutic role to treat multiple cancers. With that in mind, would you jump on the IMAB stock bandwagon?
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Merck & Co.
Last but not least, we have Merck & Co. This is a global health care company that offers health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, and animal health products. It operates through four segments: Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, Healthcare Services, and Alliances.
The company’s drug Keytruda is one of the best-selling drugs in the world, generating almost $14.4 billion in revenue in 2020. Furthermore, it was projected by analysts that by 2025, Keytruda sales may hit $22.5 billion annually. This would reflect an increase of 56% from its 2020 figure. However, MRK stock has flattered to deceive for the past year, mostly trading sideways.
However, for some investors, this could be an opportunity to load up. Yesterday, the company announced encouraging topline results from PNEU-DIRECTION (V114-027) and PNEU-PLAN (V114-024) phase III pediatric studies for V114. In the study conducted on healthy infants 42-90 days of age, immune responses in those receiving the currently available 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) and those having a mixed dose schedule of PCV13 followed by V114 were generally comparable. Also, it showed immunogenicity against the other two serotypes, 22F and 33F. Hence, this allows the company to expand coverage to new serotypes which are not targeted by currently available vaccines. All things considered, is MRK stock still a top health care stock to buy?
