Deerfield Management’s Top Health Stocks ~ Auspex Pharmaceuticals Inc (ASPX), Horizon Pharma PLC (HZNP), AbbVie Inc (ABBV)

AbbVie Inc (NYSE:ABBV) ranks as the number three long health pick in the public equity portfolio of Deerfield Management through a position of 1.53 million shares valued at $89.80 million. Shares of AbbVie have remained stable throughout the year with growth of 2.38% year-to-date. Consistent with the acquisition spree that has been prevalent in the pharmaceutical industry of late, AbbVie Inc (NYSE:ABBV) announced the acquisition of Pharmacyclics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCYC) for $21 billion earlier this year. The acquisition is poised to help AbbVie make progress in the fast-growing cancer drug treatment industry and should allow it to offset the effects of its head-on-head collision with Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) in the HCV drugs market, with the latter now controlling 85% of the HCV drug market with its Sovaldi and Harvoni drugs, which are available for $84,000 and $94,500 for a 12-week standard treatment course. AbbVie Inc launched Viekira Pak in December 2014 to eat-away the market share of Gilead with a price tag of $83,300 for a similar 12-week standard treatment course. Cliff Asness‘ AQR Capital Management, Orbimed Advisors, and Point State Capital are among the primary stockholders of AbbVie Inc.

NxStage Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXTM) is the final top healthcare stock pick of Deerfield Management we’ll look at, with Deerfield owning 5.07 million shares of NxStage Medical valued at $87.76 million. It has been a rough year for the medical device manufacturer in terms of its share price, which has declined 9.22% year-to-date. NxStage Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXTM) has a market cap of $1.04 billion with a 52-week high of $19.63. The medical firm has received an average rating of “Buy” from six brokers with a 1-year price target of $21.00, which represents an upside of 27.03% from its current share price. Tamarack Capital Management, Steve Cohen‘s Point72 Asset Management, and Sectoral Asset Management hold substantial investments in NxStage Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXTM).

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