Portfolio manager comments — Q3 2024P
Fund performance was marginally negative during the quarter. Among the positive contributors were UnitedHealth Group and HCA Healthcare, which both posted strong performance after presenting stronger than expected reports. HCA also raised its full-year outlook. Sanofi also contributed positively, partly through a strong report, as well as with promising study results for the drug candidate Tolebrutinib for the treatment of a specific type of multiple sclerosis (MS).
On the negative side were holdings in Edwards Lifesciences and Dexcom, which were both hit hard after reporting weaker than expected results and lowered their forecasts. Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, active within obesity/diabetes also lagged, as did AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo, which declined after one of the studies for Dato-Dxd did not meet the market’s expectations. However, it is worth noting that these companies have had positive momentum thus far this year and are among the fund’s strongest contributors to date in 2024. During the month we sold the holding in Dexcom and switched the position in Zimmer Biomet to Stryker.
In the middle of August, CMS published the negotiated prices for the ten drugs included in the list for the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in the US. In general, the discounts were in line with market expectations and we know that several of the drugs on the list have patents that will expire in the near term.