If you have a question, Jim Cramer has an answer.
Should the "Mad Money" host not have an opinion on a stock when asked by a viewer, he always does his homework and will address the stock at a future date. On Thursday, Cramer commented on a few outstanding questions.
Earlier this week, viewer Jeff in Nebraska asked about Ironwood Pharmaceuticals. In August, the Cambridge, Ma.-based company gained approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a drug used to treat chronic constipation and irritable bowel syndrome with constipation for use in adults. The drug, linaclotide, will be sold under the brand name Linzess.
"Ultimately, I think this drug could have a lot of potential, as tens of millions of Americans suffer from irritable bowel syndrome," Cramer said. "However, at this point I think it's just too early to tell how well it will do in the marketplace."
Over the last two weeks, IRWD has rallied sharply, so Cramer thinks it's probably "too hot to handle" for the time being. For those interested in pharma, he recommends rival Pfizer, which sports strong prospects and a juicy dividend yield.
Jim Cramer
Speaking of health care, Bill in Wisconsin wanted to know about biopharmaceutical Santarus. Although it has a tiny market capitalization of just $780 million, the San Diego-based company has two drugs on the market for controlling blood sugar in patients with type 2 diabetes, as well as a diet compound for controlling cholesterol. Earlier this week, the stock popped after the FDA OK'd its oral drug to treat a type of inflammatory bowel disease.
"Now even though Santarus is up 169 percent in the last 12 months, it only trades at a slight premium to its growth rate, so I'm willing to give the stock my blessing, but only for speculation," Cramer said. "I think Santarus can still run ahead of its colitis drug launch in March, and this product looks exciting because unlike the competition, you can take it orally."
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Reuters contributed to this report
