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3 Takeaways From Large-Cap Pharma Earnings

We see some opportunity for investment, especially in Merck.

Damien Conover
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Damien Conover: The majority of the large-cap pharmaceutical stocks have reported 2019 results. And the results are largely as we anticipated. However, I think there's a few really important takeaways from this recent earning season.

First off, drugs that are innovative, targeting areas of unmet medical need, are really driving growth. This is different than a decade ago when the pharmaceutical firms were really targeting drugs that had me-too indication, slight improvements. That's different. With a lot of new pipeline drugs coming out of the early stages of development and into the market, we're really starting to see a lot of growth in drugs that target areas like oncology and immunology. So growth is really starting to improve.

Damien Conover does not own (actual or beneficial) shares in any of the securities mentioned above. Find out about Morningstar’s editorial policies.

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