Searching for Best Treatment - Analyst Blog

The U.S. government has allotted $1.1 billion as part of its stimulus package to study the medical treatment best suited for a given patient. This is an issue that haunts millions of people around the world. They seek the best treatment for themselves and their families and often end up spending more than the benefits of the treatment.

The prestigious Institute of Medicine (IOM) recently delivered a blueprint of the top 100 priorities. A few questions, which feature at the top of the list are: Which is the best treatment for patients with irregular heartbeat (atrial fibrillation) – medication or a surgical fix? Which is the best treatment for early stage prostate cancer- surgeries or different types of radiation? What are the pros and cons of cochlear implants, hearing aids, and devices meant for hearing loss? What is the ideal time for cancer patients to have an MRI, CT scan or PET scan? As part of its study, the IOM panel reached out to various sections of the society to explore different ways of preventing health problems.

The issue of comparative effectiveness is likely to fuel fierce opposition from different drug makers and medical device manufacturers. While we believe big companies will benefit from this competitive pressure, the smaller ones will further lose market share to these biggies. Companies in our portfolio like Medtronic (MDT), Boston Scientific (BSX), and St. Jude Medical (STJ) are the few names who would benefit from this competition. On the other hand, relatively smaller names like ev3 (EVVV) will face the heat.