Healthcare stocks were a mixed bag in 2022. While healthcare giants that pay dividends to shareholders churned higher as a result of their inherent safety, pure-play research and developmental companies, on balance, lost significant ground from a valuation standpoint last year. 

Investors soured on developmental-stage drugmakers in 2022 due to rising interest rates. The long and short of it is that most of these companies are cash-burning machines due to the costly nature of clinical trials, regulatory filings, and an initial sales force ramp-up. 

Madrigal Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: MDGL) and Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ: VKTX) bucked this downward trend in a big way. These two clinical-stage biopharma stocks have gained an eye-catching 338% and 170%, respectively, over just the past three months. Here's why these two surging healthcare stocks are still worth buying right now. 

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Source Fool.com