Covidien plc (NYSE:COV), Sanofi SA (NYSE:SNY), Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) and GlaxoSmithKline plc (NYSE:GSK) are the coolest pharma stocks and the innovation these companies bring to the pharma world just tells why these companies are the coolest ones.
Meg Tirrell of CNBC reports on the pharmaceutical stocks that are likely to influence the future of medicine. She begins by explaining about Covidien plc (NYSE:COV)’s pill-sized swallowable camera. Covidien plc (NYSE:COV) acquired Given Imaging in 2013 for $860 million and went on to develop the PillCam Colon which can act as a replacement for the highly uncomfortable colonoscopy procedure, by taking pictures all throughout the human digestive system. Covidien plc (NYSE:COV) also got FDA approval for using this development on those people on whom colonoscopy cannot be performed for various reasons.
On being questioned about the camera’s size, Tirrell replies,
“It’s a pill. It’s about a pill’s size; just about a few millimeters wide.”
She then goes on to talk about the app side of these medical developments.
According to her, Sanofi SA (NYSE:SNY) is the leader in digital health apps. It is reported to be currently developing around 700 health apps, aiming at an integrated health care system. Talking more on this revelation, Tirrell mentions,
“Sanofi is really big in diabetes, they’ve got a big Insulin drug analysis, and they’ve got an app called ‘Diabeo’, and they are testing it in France. And not only does it help you monitor your Insulin, and how much exercise you are getting in your nutrition, but can actually connect you with caregivers; doctors, so they can help monitor your progress.”
Regarding the question if the FDA has to approve these apps, Tirrell says that these, being a new frontier for FDA, will have to be explored and figured out. She mentions Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s upcoming ‘Health book’, which aims to incorporate many ways to monitor health, and that probably will drive the big pharmacists to perform actions in its space.
She goes on to talk about Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN), the biggest genome sequencing company, which developed MyGenome, an iPad app in 2012, that can visualize information from a sequenced genome. She says,
“Once you get your genome sequenced, you can look at it on your iPad, in a very easily digestible way of looking at that information and showing it to your doctor.”
It can help a lot in knowing the right type of drug or predispositions of a particular individual and know more about their requirements.
The last company she talks about is GlaxoSmithKline plc (NYSE:GSK), which developed Electroceuticals or bio-electronics, or rice sized electrical devices which can be implanted onto nerve fibers, and used to collect electrical signals, that can be used to control diabetes, obesity, hypertension, etc. Tirrell signs off by stating:
“These devices may be 10 years off, but right now what’s the size of a pacemaker? That’s about the size of a hockey puck? They are trying to get it down to the size of a grain of rice.”
Disclosure: None
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