About Small Caps Article of the Week
Written by Allen Caron, About Small Cap
Small Cap Stocks to Watch: The Future of Diabetes Care An article this month from Reuters Health involved a positive message for Americans at-risk for diabetes or suffering from the disease: out-of-pocket expenses for diabetes treatment has actually decreased, according to a study just released by the CDC.
The study, which was conducted by Rui Li at the CDC’s Division of Diabetes Translation, was one that took into account data from a decade of medical expenditure reports, finding that in 2001-2002, 28 percent of adults aged 65 and younger with diabetes were paying above-average expenses for out-of-pocket diabetes care, but in 2011 this number had decreased to 23 percent.
However, medical expenses for diabetes treatment and prevention is still something many Americans struggle with. In fact, the authors of the studies admit that this data is not conclusive in and of itself: according to UCSF diabetes researcher Dr. Robert J. Rushakoff,
“Any move to lowering expenses is great, but as the authors point out, there are some changes in the way the data was reported just around the time they show the major changes, so there still needs to be some caution with interpretation.“
Rushakoff points out that it is possible that the lowered percentage of diabetic adults paying high costs might even have gone down because the economic climate may have caused them to stop paying for any treatment at all.
Diabetes treatment and prevention is a very robust field, and there are several small cap companies operating within the sphere and contributing to America’s continuing struggle with this illness. In no particular order, here are a few small cap stocks to watch we’ve been following:
Tandem Diabetes Care Inc (NASDAQ:TNDM), based in San Diego, CA, is a company that works within the diabetes community by listening to what diabetic people want and need in their treatment, using this information to create better medical products and technology for diabetes treatment. They are launching their new products for diabetes treatment, the t:slim® Insulin Pump and t:connectTMData Management Application. They also offer other diabetes monitoring technology such as products to monitor glucose, like the Dexcom G4 Platinum CGM. TNDM closed April 14 at $18.05, down $0.46, with a market cap of $380.98 million. Its 52 week trading range is $16.55 – $30.25.
Amityville, NY-based Hi-Tech Pharmacal Co. (NASDAQ:HITK) is a company that develops and manufactures generic and prescription as well as over-the-counter (OTC) products. Its most well-known product is Fluticasone nasal spray, but it also produces diabetes-treatment products such as Diabetic Tussin and DiabetiDerm. The company specializes in liquid and semi-solid medicines that are difficult to manufacture, as well as many different sterile ophthalmic, otic and inhalation products. Hi-Tech Pharmacal Co. was recently bought by Akorn, Inc, an Illinois-based pharmaceutical company for $640 million in cash. HITK closed April 14 at $43.34, down $0.06, with a market cap of $604.68 million. Its 52 week trading range is $29.24 – $44.33.
LipoScience Inc (NASDAQ:LPDX), based in Raleigh, NC, designs and develops nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) diagnostic technology to detect insulin resistance and therefore diabetes risk. They unveiled this technology this past June at the 73rd Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association (ADA), where it was received as a positive advance in early detection and treatment of diabetes. LPDX closed April 14 at $3.07, down $0.03, with a market cap of $45.21 million. Its 52-week trading range is $2.95 – $9.95.
The fight against diabetes is ongoing in America, and medical companies both large and small are contributing in all sorts of creative ways to prevent, detect, and treat this disease that affects 25.8 million Americans– 8.3 percent of the overall U.S. population. Continual medical advances in the field, many coming from small cap companies, mean that investors may wish to keep a sharp eye on this sector in months to come.
The About Small Cap blog covers breaking news on small cap stocks from around the world, delving deep into pressing issues both large and small that affect small caps. For example, we recently covered groundbreaking news about artificial heart technology in the small cap world. We write about things like natural gas drilling and interviews with notable personalities across a wide variety of industries, like Elemer Piros in the biotech sector.
