Bristol Myers Squibb and Microsoft’s new partnership to accelerate early detection of lung cancer marks the latest way healthcare and artificial intelligence are rapidly intersecting. Bristol Myers announced Tuesday that it will work with Microsoft’s AI-based radiology platform to develop and launch imaging algorithms. These new tools, which can be used to analyze X-rays and CT scans, will help clinicians detect hard-to-spot lung nodules and identify patients with early stages of the disease. The announcement comes less than a week after the CEOs of another pair of portfolio names, Eli Lilly and Nvidia, sat down at the JPMorgan Healthcare conference in San Francisco to talk about the role AI can play in drug discovery. The companies committed to jointly invest “up to $1 billion in talent, infrastructure and compute over five years” to support a collaborative innovation lab. Jim Cramer, who attended last week’s conference, raved about Eli Lilly’s David Ricks and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang meeting and their new venture in his Sunday column. “There isn’t enough of the type of engineering that Jensen brings to the pharmaceutical industry,” Jim wrote, adding that Jensen views his platform as “uniquely created to accelerate reasoning and provide more keys to unlock more locks in the human body.” After speaking with more than 15 different CEOs at the conference, Jim said, “Health care is going to take its rightful place in the portfolios of top executives, and that place will be funded by donations from the brutal war to see who can claim to have spent the most and lost the least money on artificial intelligence.” In other words, healthcare stocks will be bought as money flows out of the AI business. One major factor in this rotation: The environment for health care deals has become more inviting under President Donald Trump, after losing steam under the Biden administration. Jim said the excitement surrounding the JPMorgan conference was palpable. BMY 1Y mountain Bristol Myers 1 year old As for Bristol Myers specifically, the Club has been holding on to stock eagerly for Cobenfy’s potential. In light of some setbacks in the schizophrenia drug, Jim wrote Sunday that he would consider swapping the Club’s small position in Bristol Myers, about a 1.54% weighting in the portfolio, for a larger position in a pharmaceutical or biotechnology name. He cited Amgen, Regeneron and Novartis as possibilities. Bristol Myers shares gained about 19.6% in the fourth quarter of last year, earning them a spot in our December highlight of Club stocks positioned to continue their momentum this year. The title’s success, however, depends on the results of trials for Cobenfy, which has already received the green light to treat schizophrenia in adults, but which was unsuccessful in a trial to use it as an additional treatment. Further phase three trial results are expected this year, a likely catalyst for the stock, if results are favorable. It might be too long to wait and too risky. Jim will review plans for Bristol Myers and the rest of the Club’s actions at our January monthly meeting at noon ET on Thursday. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long BMY, LLY, NVDA, MSFT. See here for a complete list of stocks.) As a subscriber to CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after a trade alert is sent before buying or selling a stock in his charity’s portfolio. If Jim talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after the trade alert is issued before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTMENT CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY, AS WELL AS OUR DISCLAIMER. NO OBLIGATION OR FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTMENT CLUB. NO SPECIFIC RESULTS OR PROFITS ARE GUARANTEED.
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