The new CEO of Johnson & Johnson, Joaquin Duato, believes that healthcare will experience greater innovations in the next 10 years than it has over the entirety of the previous century, reports CNBC.
“I’m very bullish about the potential of technology in accelerating discovery and developing new medicines,” Duato said.
Duato is the first dual-citizen CEO for the company and was previously the CIO of the pharmaceutical arm of the business, providing him with unique insights honed over his 30 years with the company. Johnson & Johnson is gearing up to split its businesses into two companies, one focused on its consumer health product lines and the other focused on biotech and medical technology.
“For the consumer health company, it’s going to be an opportunity to deepen the relationships with consumers to attract new investors, to inspire employees, and to be able to have a fit-for-purpose model with their own capital location priorities,” Duato said. “And then for the new Johnson and Johnson it is going to be an opportunity to be more focused, more competitive and to deliver increased growth.”
J&J is looking to really focus on surgical techniques that will bring innovation and better patient outcomes to healthcare. This includes incorporating AI into digital surgeries that use cloud technologies to make the entire process smarter and more efficient, something surgeons could benefit from.
The company invested over $2 billion in innovation last year during the pandemic, a growth of 23%.
“That’s a sign of how much we believe in the opportunity that I was describing … of combining science and technology to deliver improvements in patient care,” Duato said.
Investing in Heart Health and Innovation in Healthcare
Over 16 million people die each year from heart disease in the U.S., and cardiovascular disease is the number one killer globally. Over 127 million Americans over the age of 20 currently live with the condition. With Americans able to resume more activities with the pandemic easing, the IQ Healthy Hearts ETF (HART) is positioned to benefit while also donating portions of its profits to the American Heart Association.
HART seeks to provide exposure to companies that are diagnosing and treating cardiovascular disease, companies that have above-average involvement in healthy food and wellness products, companies that provide solutions for people looking to track their fitness and participate in regular exercise, and companies that offer health education resources through IT services.
The fund seeks to track the IQ Candriam Healthy Hearts Index and invests across all market caps and in the U.S. and emerging markets but does exclude some countries, including China. Companies are screened thematically for heart health-related revenue and/or impact to heart health objectives as laid out by the fund. The index also utilizes an exclusionary screen for companies that aren’t compliant with the UN Global Compact or engage in certain activities such as animal testing, nuclear exposure, and gambling. Companies that operate in countries with oppressive regimes are also excluded.
Primary sectors included in the index as of June 2021 were healthcare, consumer discretionary, and consumer staples.
Johnson & Johnson is carried within the fund at a 5.1% weight.
HART carries an expense ratio of 0.45% and currently invests in 80 companies.
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