The
oncology market
covers every area of cancer care, from diagnosis to treatment, and is one of the biggest sectors in the
life science
space.
Cancer is the
second leading cause of death
worldwide, after cardiovascular diseases. Biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies alike are working to develop best-in-class therapeutics for the treatment of various cancers, including lung cancer, breast cancer and prostate cancer.
Deloitte’s
latest life science outlook
states that global prescription drug sales are expected to have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.9 percent from 2019 to 2024 to reach US$1.18 trillion. Oncology drugs are projected to corner nearly 20 percent of the market with a CAGR of 11.4 percent.
Life Science and Healthcare Investing in 2020
The life science and healthcare market is a booming, multi-billion dollar industry. Read our 2020 life science outlook report!
Investors interested in stocks in the global oncology market should take a look at biotech and pharmaceutical companies with a focus on oncology drugs and testing.
This list of A-rated oncology stocks on the NASDAQ was gathered through
SwingTradeBot.com
. The top oncology companies are listed in order of market cap, and all figures below were current as of market close on November 2, 2020.
1. NovoCure (NASDAQ:
NVCR
)
Market cap: US$11.42 billion; current share price: US$112.16
First on our top oncology companies list is NovoCure, a commercial-stage oncology company pioneering a novel therapy for solid tumors called Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields). TTFields uses electric fields tuned to specific frequencies to disrupt solid tumor cancer cell division.
For
the third quarter of 2020
, NovoCure reported net revenues of US$132.7 million, representing 44 percent growth over Q3 2019 and 14 percent growth over Q2 2020. Its quarterly net income was came to US$9.3 million with US$0.09 in earnings per share.
2. Guardant Health (NASDAQ:
GH
)
Market cap: US$10.47 billion; current share price: US$105.09
Guardant Health is a precision oncology company that is developing proprietary blood tests for the early detection of tumor DNA in high-risk populations and recurrence monitoring in cancer survivors.
In October 2020,
the company announced
that via a new study focusing on gastrointestinal cancer, its
technology
for analyzing circulating tumor DNA has demonstrated the potential to both speed up and increase the enrollment of cancer patients into clinical trials.
3. Mirati Therapeutics (NASDAQ:
MRTX
)
Market cap:US$9.17 billion; current share price: US$216.75
Mirati Therapeutics is a clinical-stage oncology company that is developing therapies to address the
genetic
and immunological causes of cancer. Mirati has a clinical collaboration agreement with multinational pharmaceutical giant Novartis International (NYSE:
NVS
).
Mirati has several drug candidates in its pipeline, including a KRAS G12C inhibitor in a Phase 2/3 clinical trial for treating non-small cell lung (NSCL), colorectal, pancreatic and other cancers. Recent results from the KRAS G12C inhibitor trial show that
45 percent of participants
had an objective response to the therapy. The company is also working on sitravatinib, a spectrum-selective kinase inhibitor in a Phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of NSCL cancer.
4. Iovance Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:
IOVA
)
Market cap: US$5.34 billion; current share price: US$36.44
Iovance Biotherapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing T cell-based immuno-oncology tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapies for cancer. TIL therapies use a patient’s own immune cells to attack cancer cells.
The company
plans to submit
a biologics license application for lifileucel, its investigative TIL therapy for metastatic melanoma, to the US Food and Drug Administration in 2021.
5. Berkeley Lights (NASDAQ:
BLI
)
Market cap: US$4.49 billion; current share price: US$70.38
Berkeley Lights is a biotech company focused on cellular therapy, biopharmaceuticals and genomics. The company has developed a tech platform for the rapid functional characterization of single cells at scale.
Developing and commercializing T cell therapies — which have shown to be highly effective in fighting cancerous tumors — has proved challenging because of the time-consuming and complex procedure required for the process of studying and screening multiple cell-to-cell interactions. Berkeley Lights’ technology has the potential to significantly reduce this time and complexity.
Berkeley Lights went public in July 2020 after launching a successful IPO that raised
US$205 million
; that was more than double the company’s US$100 million filing.
6. Burning Rock Biotech (NASDAQ:
BNR
)
Market cap: US$2.99 billion; current share price: US$29.38
Burning Rock Biotech is a biotech company specializing in next-generation sequencing (NGS) diagnostics solutions for precision medicine in oncology. The company is focused on NGS-based therapy selection testing for late-stage cancer patients, especially in China.
In November 2020, Burning Rock
presented new data
for its early detection ELSA-seq test at the European Society for Medical Oncology Asia Virtual Congress. The ELSA-seq test is a blood-based targeted methylation sequencing test that interrogates the epigenetic alterations from circulating cell-free DNA to allow for sensitive detection and accurate localization of early stage tumors.
7. Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:
KURA
)
Market cap: US$1.77 billion; current share price: US$31.38
Kura Oncology is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that is developing a pipeline of precision medicines for the treatment of solid tumors and blood cancers. Kura’s lead product candidate, Tipifarnib, is in Phase 2 clinical trials for the treatment of solid tumors, peripheral T-cell lymphomas and other hematologic malignancies.
In October 2020,
new preclinical data
demonstrated that Kura’s late-stage drug candidate, tipifarnib, “shows compelling activity when combined with a PI3Kα inhibitor in models of HRAS.”
Life Science and Healthcare Investing in 2020
The life science and healthcare market is a booming, multi-billion dollar industry. Read our 2020 life science outlook report!
8. Cardiff Oncology (NASDAQ:
CRDF
)
Market cap: US$500.54 million; current share price: US$15.89
Cardiff Oncology is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing treatment options for various cancers, including including KRAS-mutated colorectal cancer, castration-resistant prostate cancer and leukemia. The company’s primary drug candidate is onvansertib, a highly-selective PLK1 inhibitor for the treatment of solid tumor and hematologic cancers.
Currently in Phase 2 trials, highlights from recent efficacy and safety results for onvansertib in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer include 31 percent of evaluable patients achieving the primary endpoint of disease control after 12 weeks of treatment.
9. Aspira Women’s Health (NASDAQ:
AWH
)
Market cap: US$394.26 million; current share price: US$3.79
Aspira Women’s Health is a biotech company focused on developing testing and treatments for gynecologic issues, including ovarian cancer.
According to the company
, “detecting ovarian cancer in Black women presents physicians with many challenges, as testing is less sensitive in that population.” Aspira is working to close the gap between these disparities in ovarian cancer detection. The company’s OVA1plus, a reflex process combining OVA1 and Overa, is a multivariate biomarker for assessing ovarian cancer risk in women across all ethnicities.
In October 2020,
Aspira announced
that it is now a participating provider for Anthem BlueCross BlueShield of Georgia, which covers approximately 3.3 million members across the state.
10. Fennec Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:
FENC
)
Market cap: US$185.86 million; current share price: US$7.33
Fennec Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company developing cancer drugs. The company has completed patient enrollment of over two Phase 3 clinical trials for its lead product candidate, sodium thiosulfate (STS) for the prevention of cisplatin-induced hearing loss, or ototoxicity in children. STS is under review with the US Food and Drug Administration and European Medicines Agency.
This is an updated version of an article first published by the Investing News Network in 2018.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Melissa Pistilli, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.