Best Gene Editing Stocks
Gene editing is a relatively new field in which researchers concern themselves with editing the DNA of a plant or creature to improve some of its physical characteristics, like disease resistance. This article explains gene editing, the pros and cons of investing in the best gene-editing stocks, and provides a list of some of the best.
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What are Gene Editing Stocks?
Gene editing is a new method to manipulate plant or animal traits by altering DNA, correcting genetic issues, boosting crop resilience, or changing animal features. Perhaps the most well-known gene editing technology is CRISPR. This technology uses RNA to target and curt specific DNA sequences, deactivating targeted genes.
The latest gene-editing developments involve ‘base editing’, a novel technique to directly modify the base DNA without causing double-strand breaks. This removes the need for a toxic DNA donor molecule, making the technology safer for potential application in humans.
Many gene editing companies are working on using this technology to create therapeutic drugs for use in humans to combat cancers and other diseases. Others are aiming to develop gene editing technology further to edit the genes of plants and creatures for practical use, like in agriculture. Investing in stocks of these companies offers a way for investors to gain exposure to the gene editing industry.
Gene editing is drawing closer and closer to being able to correct genetic diseases in humans, which could have enormous implications for healthcare. With its potential promising trajectory, investors are increasingly drawn to gene editing stocks as a burgeoning industry. However, it is important to note that there are ethical concerns about the real-world application of this technology.
Best Gene Editing Stocks to Watch
The best gene editing stocks in this list should serve as a basis for investors performing their own research on the sector before committing to any investment decisions. Whatever makes for the ‘best’ gene editing stock is naturally subject to the investor’s financial situation.
- CRISPR Therapeutics AG – Newer Gene Editing Company Founded By Nobel Prize Winner
- Agilent Technologies – Laboratory Equipment and Advanced Technology Device Producer
- Intellia Therapeutics – Founded By Nobel Prize Winner and Partnered with Regeneron
- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals – One of the Largest Gene Editing Companies with Many Drugs Under Development
- Beam Therapeutics – Startup Partnered with Pfizer with Large Support by Industry Investors
CRISPR Therapeutics AG
CRISPR Therapeutics AG was founded in 2013 and is a Swiss-American biotechnology company headquartered in Switzerland. The company was founded by Emmanuelle Charpentier, Shaun Foy, and Rodger Novak. Charpentier was part of a working group that laid some of the scientific groundwork for the use of gene editing using CRISPR.
Currently, CRISPR Therapeutics AG is developing medicine to combat various diseases, including sickle cell disease, several different cancers, and type 1 diabetes, among others. The company has around 500 employees spread around offices in Switzerland, the United States, and the UK.
CRISPR Therapeutics AG has a market capitalisation of around $6,3 billion. The company trades under the ticker ‘NASDAQ: CRSP’.
Agilent Technologies
Agilent Technologies is a technology company headquartered in California. Founded in 1999, the company provides instruments, software, services, and consumables for laboratories. Its IPO in the days before the dot com bust was one of the biggest in Silicon Valley history at the time.
The technology company produces all kinds of technology solutions for analytical laboratories and the clinical and routine diagnostics markets. Its products include laboratory equipment, like mass spectrometry, microarrays, and immunohistochemistry devices. The company also provides IT and automation solutions related to laboratory work. A future aim is to enable gene therapy for human medicine.
Agilent Technologies currently has a market capitalisation of around $38.8 billion. It trades under the ticker symbol ‘NYSE: A’.
Intellia Therapeutics
Intellia Therapeutics is an American biotechnology company which is developing gene therapy solutions using CRISPR. The company has performed in vivo pilot programs that employed CRISPR and proprietary delivery techniques to target select DNA sequences precisely, aiming to cure certain cancers and autoimmune diseases. The aim is to employ CRISPR with intravenous administration, that is, injection by needle, to potentially cure people of these severe diseases.
The biotech company was founded in 2014, with Jennifer Doudna as one of its scientific founders. Doudna was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry together with Emmanuelle Charpentier. In 2017, the company partnered with Regeneron to develop a CRISPR-based treatment for transthyretin amyloidosis, a hereditary neurodegenerative disease.
Intellia Therapeutics has a market capitalisation of around $2.5 billion at the time of writing. The company trades under the ticker symbol ‘NASDAQ: NTLA’.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals
Unlike several of its recently founded competitors, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals has been around for a while. It was founded in 1988 by Leonard Schleifer and George Yancopoulos. Schleifer is currently the CEO of the company.
The biotechnology pharmaceutical company has a broad range of products, many of which are drugs currently on the market. Examples include Eylea, a drug for age-related blindness, and Immazeb, a drug approved in 2020 to treat the deadly Ebola virus.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals has its eyes on the future and is currently developing numerous genetic medicines, focusing on utilising and connecting existing technologies in new and exciting ways. One of the methods the firm is currently working on is antibody-retargeted adeno-associated viruses (AAVs), which can deliver genes to edit and silence gene expressions.
At the time of writing, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals has a market capitalisation of roughly $104 billion. The ticker symbol it trades under is ‘NASDAQ: REGN’.
Beam Therapeutics
Beam Therapeutics was founded in 2017 by David Liu and Feng Zhang, among others, and sprang forth from the Broad Institute, a biomedical and genomic research centre. This centre is a collaboration effort between MIT and Harvard. The company is still hard at work developing its products in the area of gene editing using CRISPR technology.
The company has secured itself a partnership with Pfizer, a heavyweight in the healthcare industry. The company is in a position to earn up to $1 billion in milestone payments and reap a 35% share of profits from drugs co-developed between the two companies. BEAM has around $1 billion in cash and cash equivalents, which should be enough to cover the next two years of runway.
Beam Therapeutics currently has a market capitalisation drifting around $2.7 billion. The company trades under the ticker symbol ‘NASDAQ: BEAM’.
How to Invest in Gene Editing Stocks
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Pros & Cons of Investing in Gene Editing Stocks
The first advantage of investing in the best gene-editing stocks is the novelty of the technology and the rapid speed at which innovation is taking place. We are yet to discover where the limits of gene editing truly lie as more drugs are continually developed and treatments for genetic diseases are engineered. In the future, gene editing might genuinely become an everyday practice with applications in dozens of different areas.
A second advantage of investing in the best gene-editing stocks is the high potential for diversifying an investment portfolio. The gene editing sector is not likely to be highly correlated to other industries like financial services or consumer goods. This means that, depending on the given investor’s portfolio, dedicating a small portion of capital to the best gene-editing stocks can increase diversification.
As a disadvantage, the gene editing sector is still in its early days. There is bound to be turbulence ahead, whether that be in the form of legislation, or possible limitations to the technology that are yet to be discovered. These unknown unknowns make investing in the best gene-editing stocks a relatively riskier venture.
A second disadvantage of investing in the best gene-editing stocks is the intense competition and intellectual property battles that are being played out in and around Silicon Valley. Many research institutions make contributions to the technology side of things, which can turn into legal trouble when a company tries to make use of that innovation. Identifying which of the best gene stocks has secured the best patents for the coming five or ten years is not a trivial task.
Continue Reading:
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- The CFD Trading Guide
FAQs on Gene Editing Stocks
What is the best CRISPR gene editing stock to buy?
Some of the best gene-editing stocks include name stays like CRISPR Therapeutics AG and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. Investors are however advised to perform their own research on the best gene-editing stocks before they commit to any investment decisions.
Is gene editing a good investment?
The gene editing sector and the best gene-editing stocks are all still in their early days. Gene editing is a promising technology that has many potential applications, meaning some of the best gene-editing stocks could one day become household names. However, there are ethical and legal challenges to overcome, and there might be limits to the technology that are yet undiscovered.
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