When we think about overcoming coronavirus, we look to large pharmaceutical companies as one of the key players to get us back to normal.
Innovative healthcare with large markets
They tend to do very well regardless of the prevailing economic backdrop. The opportunity is also far more than just Covid19. In 2019, there were 48 new drug approvals in the US ‑ one of the highest levels in the last decade. Many of these were for first-in-class drugs with the potential to drastically impact people’s lives. Regulators are generally supportive of this progress. The explosion of innovation in gene therapy, oncology, and other key areas is generating new solutions with huge and previously unmet needs.
According to the American Cancer Society, the estimated number of new invasive cancer cases expected in the USA alone for 2020 is 1,762,450, or 4,700 new cases per day. Advances in imaging tools, gene-expression, gene-editing tools (PCR and CRISPR), and advances in flow cytometers, is accelerating cancer therapies.
One of the most exciting areas is in the development of Immuno-Oncology drugs. They enlist a patient’s immune system in the fight, giving it marching orders to tackle cancer cells (rather than directly attacking tumours, as radiation and chemotherapy do). Under the right circumstances, the best 10 new performers can make traditional chemotherapy or surgery far more effective, or potentially even replacing them. In 2019, the global Immuno-Oncology market size was US$32bn growing to US$87bn by 2027. This equates to CAGR of 14.9%. Importantly, the shape of the economic recovery ahead will have no impact on these underlying growth rates.
Insync has quietly increased the exposure to highly profitable and innovative pharmaceutical companies. They are positioned to grow strongly regardless of how the economic cycle performs and irrespective if one of these businesses ends up with a Covid19 treatment or vaccine.