Bristol Myers Squibb and Microsoft's new partnership aimed at accelerating the early detection of lung cancer marks the latest way healthcare and artificial intelligence are rapidly intersecting. Bristol Myers said Tuesday that it will work with Microsoft's AI-powered radiology platform to develop and release imaging algorithms. These new tools, which can be used to analyze X-rays and CT scans, will help doctors see hard-to-detect lung nodules and identify patients with earlier 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 computing over five years” to support a collaborative innovation lab. Jim Cramer, who attended last week's conference, gushed about the meeting of Eli Lilly's David Ricks and Nvidia's Jensen Huang and their new company in his Sunday column. “There is not enough of the type of engineering that Jensen brings to the table in pharmaceuticals,” Jim wrote, adding that Jensen sees his platform as “solely created to speed up reasoning and generate more keys to unlock more locks in the human body.” After speaking to more than 15 different CEOs at the conference, Jim said, “Healthcare will once again take its rightful place in the portfolios of big managers, and that place will be funded by donations from the brutal war over who can claim to have spent the most to lose the least money on artificial intelligence.” In other words, healthcare stocks will be bought as money comes out of AI trading. A major driver of the rotation: The environment for health care deals has become more attractive under President Donald Trump after losing steam during the Biden administration. Jim said the enthusiasm at the JPMorgan conference was palpable. BMY 1A mountain Bristol Myers 1 year As for Bristol Myers specifically, the Club has eagerly latched onto the stock because of Cobenfy's potential. In light of some setbacks for the schizophrenia drug, Jim wrote on Sunday that he would consider swapping the Club's small position in Bristol Myers, with a weighting of about 1.54% in the portfolio, for a larger one in a pharmaceutical or biotech name. He cited Amgen, Regeneron and Novartis as possibilities. Bristol Myers shares gained approximately 19.6% in the fourth quarter of last year, earning them a spot in our December highlight of Club holdings positioned for continued momentum this year. The success of the action, however, depends on the trial readings of Cobenfy, which has already received the green light to treat schizophrenia in adults, but failed to achieve results in a trial for its use as an additional treatment. More readings from phase three tests are expected this year, a likely catalyst for the stock, if results are favorable. It could be too long and too risky a wait. Jim will go over plans for Bristol Myers and the rest of the Club's actions during our monthly January meeting at noon ET on Thursday. (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long BMY, LLY, NVDA, MSFT. See here for a full list of stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable fund's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTMENT CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY, TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER. NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS OR IS CREATED BY VIRTUE OF THE RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN RELATION TO THE INVESTMENT CLUB. NO SPECIFIC RESULTS OR BENEFITS ARE GUARANTEED.
