The healthcare sector’s performance is mostly driven by the rising demand for healthcare services and products. According to Modern Healthcare, “the healthcare industry has long fueled the country’s economy. Demand is expected to pick up as the population ages, people live longer, more gain insurance coverage and chronic conditions become more prevalent”.
With the demand for healthcare expected to rise, increased merger and acquisition activity, improved technological innovation, intensifying demand for new drugs and cost-reduction are some of the factors expected to drive growth in the sector. As healthcare companies work to develop fresh methods to improve the quality of care that can be provided, whether it be technology, devices or drugs, stocks within the sector are beginning to see higher activity in the markets.
Premier Health Group, Inc. (PHGRF) (PHGI) recently provided a corporate update. The company announced as a part of its expansion plans, it is formally entering the cannabis clinic space and has been in discussions with Canadian ACMPR-Licensed Producers in order to partner with a, or multiple, Licensed Producers. Premier Health’s recent acquisition of Cloud Practice, a medical software company, has provided the company with an underlying platform to help empower and streamline patient-doctor interaction.
“We are currently working on a partnership model to hard code the decision-making process into the Electronic Medical Records (EMR),” said Dr. Essam Hamza, CEO. “There has been a critical gap between the patient’s need for medical cannabis and the doctor’s knowledge and comfort level in prescribing it. At Premier we understand the frustration felt from both the patient and the doctor and are integrating what we think is a revolutionary process. This new tool will allow us to provide a much-needed service to the 287 clinics and almost 3 million patients in our ecosystem.”
Premier Health is also in the process of closing on two operating pharmacies in Metro Vancouver, with a combined revenue of approximately $6 million (FY 2018) and anticipates the acquisition to close in or about Q2 2019. The company also recently announced a partnership with a major online healthcare company in China, 360 Health enabling the Premier’s healthcare team to connect with patients virtually in China to provide second opinion services.
Titan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (TTNP) announced the execution of a specialty pharmacy distribution and services agreement with AllianceRx Walgreens Prime that will expand patient access to treatment for its unique six-month maintenance treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD) Probuphine (buprenorphine) implant.
Titan expects the bulk of Probuphine sales in the U.S. to be through the specialty pharmacy distribution model, which entails a specialty pharmacy will carry inventory, directly handle the patients’ insurance billing and payment processes, and ship to the health care provider as prescribed. This system is designed to facilitate patient access to treatment by streamlining the product ordering and fulfillment process for healthcare providers.
“We are excited to expand our specialty pharmacy network for Probuphine to include such a nationally-recognized leader as AllianceRx Walgreens Prime,” said Titan’s chief commercial officer, Dane Hallberg. “AllianceRx Walgreens Prime has excellent relationships with third-party payors and a network of fulfillment sites that spans the entire country. Its broad reach will significantly improve the ability of OUD patients to gain access to long-term maintenance treatment with Probuphine.”
Danaher Corporation (DHR) announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with General Electric Company (GE) to acquire the Biopharma business of GE Life Sciences for a cash purchase price of approximately $21.4 billion. This represents a multiple of approximately 17 times expected 2019 EBITDA for GE Biopharma.
GE Biopharma is a leading provider of instruments, consumables, and software that support the research, discovery, process development and manufacturing workflows of biopharmaceutical drugs and is anticipated to generate $3.2 billion in revenue in 2019, with 75% of these revenues considered recurring. The business will be established as a stand-alone operating company within Danaher’s $6.5 billion Life Sciences segment.
Danaher’s President and CEO, Thomas P. Joyce, Jr., said, “GE Biopharma is renowned for providing best-in-class bioprocessing technologies and solutions. This acquisition will bring a talented and passionate team as well as a highly innovative, industry-leading product suite to our Life Sciences portfolio, providing an excellent complement to our current biologics workflow solutions.”
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