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Money and Markets: Investing Insights

Big Data Can Cure Big Illness

Jon Markman | Tuesday, September 20, 2016 at 7:30 am

Jon Markman

The third industrial revolution is happening right now. Silicon is the new steel, and data is the new oil. Now the companies that build Big Data ecosystems are about to reap the rewards.

That is the finding of an exhaustive new research report from Morgan Stanley. The 109-page tome traces industrial development through the ages — from the dirty days of coal to today’s pristine data centers.

While several sectors such as media, online retail and hospitality have already moved to the new era of data and digitization with great success, the analysts conclude the U.S. economy is still only 27% digital. They expect that metric will reach 43% in ten years, and significant rewards will flow to companies that bring the data revolution to little-trafficked sectors like pharmaceuticals.

For example, Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development found the average cost of a new drug in 2013 was almost $1.4 billion. Of that, a material component was the result of high failure rates for drugs tested in human subjects. The appeal of Big Data is better human profiling and drug characterization to reduce attrition. Morgan Stanley analysts believe these cost savings could be $20 billion per year in the U.S. alone, or 5% of the $400 billion pharma market.

And that is just the start. BCC Research of Wellesley, Mass., expects the global market for healthcare analytics to triple to $16.9 billion by 2020.

Economic Tidal Waves Act Just like Tsunamis

According to the National Geographic, the enormous energy of a tsunami can lift giant boulders, flip vehicles and demolish houses. But from a financial standpoint, the K Wave will be even worse: Millions could lose their homes. Millions more could see their lifesavings wiped out in an instant. Businesses, large and small, could close their doors. Even the bare necessities of life — food, water, clothing — might become scarce. That’s why it’s so important that you get your free copy of "STOCK MARKET TSUNAMI" right away, click here to download now! — Larry Edelson

Internal Sponsorship

Alphabet (GOOGL) began the transition to a holding company two years ago to allow its disparate subsidiaries to shine on their own accord. Its DeepMind, Calico and Verily units are now focused on all parts of the healthcare value chain.

DeepMind, the artificially intelligent brain best known for defeating a world champion Go player, is working with U.K. hospitals to help physicians diagnose and treat illnesses better. Calico is a standalone, data-driven pharmaceutical company working on longevity. Verily is leveraging its computing and engineering chops to help big pharma firms do more effective research.  Last week it formed a joint venture with French drug company Sanofi for diabetes research. This follows similar collaborations with British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline and Swiss pharma giant Novartis.

The big prices of small pills can be cut down to size by properly analyzing Big Data.

IBM (IBM) has taken a slightly different route.  In 2013 it broke out its artificial intelligence Watson computing platform to tackle healthcare through data analytics. The result has been Watson Health.

Because the unrestricted health-data market is fragmented and still relatively young, given longstanding industry silos, IBM has been an aggressive consolidator. In 2015, it bought Merge Health for $1 billion to bolster its medical imaging capabilities. This year, it bought Truven Health Analytics for $2.6 billion.

Watson Health General Manager Deborah Disanzo told Bloomberg:  "The strategy of IBM is to bring this data together and democratize it so that both IBM and our ecosystem of partners can build health solutions on top of it."

And that is the key. Big Data will change healthcare in fundamental ways. Alphabet and IBM are taking the lead, building vibrant ecosystems around their Big Data collection and analytic tools.

Splunk (SPLK) will be a major player, too. The company produces web-interface software that’s designed to search, monitor and analyze the Big Data generated by machines.

All three companies will benefit handsomely from the growing market.

TECH UPDATE

Tesla (TSLA) revealed upgrades to its radar system that will elevate it to the primary control sensor. Cars from the 2014 model year will get the upgrade free in an over-the-air software update… Amazon (AMZN) is stepping up its physical stores with several dozen experimental pop-up stores. Meanwhile, here is one take on why you should never sell the shares… BMW is set to accelerate its electric-vehicle plans with three additional models…  An MIT scientist has a theory that could eliminate all viruses. He just needs money to fund testing.  So he’s raising it on Indiegogo, naturally… Uber is working on self-driving cars in Pittsburgh, and lawmakers there are letting the startup do almost whatever it wants to get working prototypes…  Microsoft (MSFT) is actively seeking autistic coders as it looks to broaden its workforce. The move is good for public relations and for the company’s more agile computing ambitions… In the past two weeks, two asteroids have come close to hitting the Earth. Well, they were 23,000 and 50,000 miles away, but that’s close enough, giving scientists just a couple days warning.

Maker Culture: Software might be eating the world but there is a vibrant "maker culture" on the outskirts of Shenzhen, China, the home to most of the hardware factories where smartphones and other gadgets are born. Read at Wired here.

Self-Driving Cars:  Intel researchers at Darmstadt University in Germany are using the video game Grand Theft Auto to teach autonomous cars how to avoid hitting humans who are doing questionable things. Read at MIT Technology Review here.

Solar Power: Green energy projects are multiplying.  Solar power projects shot ahead 43% in the second quarter led by new capacity for utilities companies. Read at Bloomberg here.  

Best wishes,

Jon Markman

Jon began his career as editor, investment columnist and investigative reporter at the Los Angeles Times. As news editor, his staffs won Pulitzer Prizes for spot-news reporting in 1992 and 1994.

In 1997, Microsoft recruited Jon to help launch MSN’s finance channel, where he served as Managing Editor. In that capacity, Markman became the co-inventor on two Microsoft patents.

From 2002 to 2005, Jon served as portfolio manager and senior investment strategist at a multi-strategy hedge fund.

Since 2005, Mr. Markman has specialized in helping everyday investors buy tomorrow’s technology superstars BEFORE they skyrocket.

Mr. Markman is the author of five best-selling books, including Reminiscences of a Stock Operator: Annotated Edition; New Day Trader’s Advantage, Swing Trading and Online Investing.

{ 7 comments }

polywan suy Tuesday, September 20, 2016 at 7:58 am

Nothing big or nothing small, Virus or Bacteria are very small , it made people died every day.

Robert Redfern Tuesday, September 20, 2016 at 8:02 am

I really worry about the outcome for humanity. It does not need Big Data to tell us that the cause of 95% of all diseases is caused by shovelling junk into our mouth which is supplied by big food. There are no drugs on the market in the history of medical fraud that have gotten anyone healthy. This medical fraud will bankrupt most nations unless governments stop fining them $billions for this fraud in one hand and taking donations in the other hand. Simply shut them down. Provide cheap cover for accidents and acute trauma care and charge everyone else full price for these drugs that don’t work to those who are stupid enough to shovel junk food, drugs and alcohol into their mouths..

tnsandy Tuesday, September 20, 2016 at 8:28 am

Alzheimer’s ?

James Tuesday, September 20, 2016 at 10:09 am

The worlds an even stranger place when Bill halls American football predictions are not coming in. I had money on the Chicago Bears to beat the Philadelphia Eagles but got stumped.

Stephen Tuesday, September 20, 2016 at 11:37 am

I often wonder if these super-computer based systems that are being used to design new drugs are taking into account (doing any big-data investigation of) the use of diet, exercise, or “alternate medicine” theories of various sorts? Ray Kurzweil often speaks and writes of the methods he used to move his own body away from diabetes and heart problems by changing his diet, exercising, and consuming what most people, especially health professionals, would consider ridiculously massive amounts of numerous supplements. He has written three books on this subject and even has a company selling supplements. His approaches to improve his own situation and perhaps extend his own life were probably not those that would provide high near-term profits for the companies that can afford to apply big data mining techniques to health matters.

mandi Wednesday, September 21, 2016 at 8:11 am

what happens when the radar in USA go out and they will no more operate like the closure of the internet and telephone service
so there for all this will be useless

Walter Morris Jr. Friday, September 23, 2016 at 4:27 pm

Surname Walter Morris Jr. _[D]_** Deed holder** Documentaries Learning vendors gpo pre-text ©.

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