ETFI Health Innovators Index: Does R&D Lead to Higher Stock Prices?

By: Mike Havrilla Thursday, November 13, 2008 9:30 AM

Sectors: Medical

Symbols: ABT, BAX, CEPH, THOR, VPHM

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The accompanying table includes statistics and the top five rated companies in the ETFI Global Health Innovators Index of companies with market caps over $100M which received FDA approval in the trailing 12-month period for either an original new drug or medical device product. The index includes companies which get approvals for drugs or biological agents classified as new chemical entities (i.e. excluding reformulations of existing drugs, generic drugs, and label extensions for existing products). Also, companies which receive original PMA approvals for new medical devices are included in the index, excluding the less rigorous and more numerous 510(k) applications.

The goal of the index is to track the performance of companies which are developing innovative new drugs and medical devices to see whether their investment in R&D pays off in the form of better stock price performance compared to benchmark ETFs for pharma, biotech, medical devices, and the overall healthcare sector. The top 25 rated companies fared better than five of the six benchmark funds while all 49 companies fared better than three of the six.

The top rated companies in the index reflect a mix of new product approvals, including Baxter (BAX) BioSurgery's skin graft adhesive for burn patients (Artiss), new medical devices from Abbott Labs (ABT) (Xience V stent) and Thoratec (THOR) (HeartMate), a cancer drug from Cephalon (CEPH) (Treanda), and a biological agent (Cinryze) from ViroPharma (VPHM) which was acquired with its buyout of Lev Pharma.

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