10 Cancer-Fighting Health Care Stocks to Buy

Cancer.

Woman in white robe smiling and looking out the window
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Cancer. The mere mention of the word can drudge up discomfort, as most everyone knows it’s second only to heart disease when it comes to claiming lives. Unlike heart disease, though, cancer is difficult to prevent and similarly difficult to fight.

The battle against the myriad forms of cancer, however, also is an opportunity for investors – namely, in health care stocks.

Sales of drugs used to fight the disease are expected to exceed $160 billion by 2021. But because there are so many different types of cancer, that revenue has been and will continue to be widely distributed among the pharmaceutical makers of superior cancer-fighting solutions.

Here’s a rundown of the market’s top cancer-fighting health care stocks. They come in all shapes and sizes. Some are tightly focused – perhaps only making one drug – while some are arguably overly diversified. In all cases, however, a cancer treatment has the potential to be a game-changer – not just for investors, but for cancer patients as well.

Disclaimer

Data is as of July 19, 2018.

James Brumley
Contributing Writer, Kiplinger.com
James Brumley is a former stock broker, registered investment adviser and Director of Research for an options-focused newsletter. He's now primarily a freelance writer, tapping more than a decade's worth of broad experience to help investors get more out of the market. With a background in technical analysis as well as fundamental analysis, James touts stock-picking strategies that combine the importance of company performance with the power of stock-trade timing. He believes this dual approach is the only way an investor has a shot at consistently beating the market. James' work has appeared at several websites including Street Authority, Motley Fool, Kapitall and Investopedia. When not writing as a journalist, James works on his book explaining his multi-pronged approach to investing.