nearly the past year, Eli Lilly shares have risen more than 100%, valuing the business at nearly $740 billion. Investors like the pharma company because it dominates the billion-dollar weight loss medicine sector. Lilly's two weight-loss medications generate billions in income, and demand exceeds supply.
Don't worry if you missed Lilly's significant gains. Due to biotech and pharma's constant innovation and new introductions, you can still find more chances. These may boost short- and long-term share prices. Let's look at two healthcare stocks with huge catalysts that could boost your portfolio immediately and over time.
1. Moderna Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA) is famous for its coronavirus vaccine. The company's sole product helped the stock rise early in the epidemic, but when vaccination demand declined, investors worried about future growth. The good news is Moderna may not stay a one-product player. A significant motivator for the firm is the FDA's decision on its respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine on May 12.
Moderna may have an advantage over Pfizer and GSK in RSV vaccine commercialization for two reasons. First, the two main drug companies reported Guillain-Barre syndrome instances in clinical trials. Moderna didn't. The prospective Moderna product's safety may appeal to healthcare providers.
Second, only Moderna's experimental vaccine comes in prefilled syringes. This could also win over vaccine administrators by reducing errors and speeding up the procedure. Moderna could gain market share and perhaps leadership despite being later to introduction than Pfizer and GSK.
Moderna estimates the peak annual RSV market at $10 billion, making this vaccine a potential growth product for the firm. So now is a good opportunity to buy Moderna at 8.5 times projected earnings expectations.
2. Vertex Pharma Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX) has two major catalysts ahead. The biotech giant plans to file two FDA approval petitions by mid-year for a new cystic fibrosis (CF) treatment option and an investigational pain drug. Both have blockbuster potential.
Vertex is the world's leading CF therapy company because its therapies improve patients' lives and quality of life. Drugs and IP allow it to last until the mid-2030s. This may be extended by launching "the vanza triple," an investigational medication superior than its best-seller.
The major biotech is moving outside this specialty and has demonstrated it can succeed in other areas through clinical studies. Vertex reported positive phase 3 results for VX-548, a non-opioid pain candidate. The business hopes to get a broad label for moderate-to-severe acute pain and then chronic pain. Because pain remedies are restricted to over-the-counter, ineffective ones or addictive narcotics, this might be a tremendous potential.
The vanza triple and VX-548 could increase Vertex's strong sales growth. Today, the shares trade at 24 times forward earnings forecasts, making them a bargain.
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