From a scientific point of view, the potential of gene-editing therapy is exciting to think about. With CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) making inroads in this niche, investors can monitor the company’s progress and hopefully enjoy long-term returns in CRISPR stock.
“Creating transformative gene-based medicines for serious diseases” is the company’s credo, and this is borne out through CRISPR’s robust pipeline of therapeutic candidates for serious conditions like sickle-cell disease and beta thalassemia.
Gene-based medicines offer hope for patients and CRISPR is on the front lines with relentless, cutting-edge scientific research. And for investors, it only takes one breakthrough moment for CRISPR stock to make a swift and sustained move to the upside.
CRISPR Stock at a Glance
When it comes to CRSP stock, there’s something about the $70 price level that just keeps holding long-side investors back. For years, the buyers haven’t been able to break through and hold that level.
The onset of the novel coronavirus seems to have dented the share price, but only temporarily. Indeed, CRISPR shares quickly recovered from their mid-March low of $33 and change.
But now, once again, stockholders are facing that wall at $70. Are they waiting for a game-changing medical breakthrough? Progress is what traders want to see, and CRISPR might just be on the cusp of a watershed moment.
A Well-Supported Approach
The conditions that CRISPR’s therapy candidates are designed to treat can be devastating to patients. Sickle-cell disease, for example, is a genetic blood disorder that’s known to be painful and, in some cases, fatal.
A somewhat similar condition known as beta thalassemia leaves patients with anemia (which is a shortage of red blood cells) as well as the need to undergo transfusions for the rest of their lives.
As CRISPR reports, these two conditions are both global in scope. On an annual basis, 300,000 babies are born with sickle-cell disease and 60,000 are born with beta thalassemia. Both disorders stem from mutations in the beta-globin gene.
Without delving too deeply into scientific jargon, CRISPR explains its approach to developing treatments for these conditions: “Naturally occurring genetic variants cause a condition known as hereditary persistence of fetal hemoglobin (HPFH), which leads to reduced or no symptoms in patients with SCD and β-thalassemia … Our gene editing strategy aims to mimic these variants in symptomatic patients, an approach supported by well-understood genetics.”
Thus, CRISPR’s aim is to identify variants on the very same elements that produce the symptoms in the first place. It’s a clever approach to disrupting the disease by altering the patients’ “genetic instructions,” to use a decidedly non-scientific term.
The Results Are Promising
Patients suffering from genetic diseases can take comfort in CRISPR’s progress in developing novel therapies. A while back, CRISPR agreed to collaborate with Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) to research and develop new treatments for certain genetic diseases.
And now, it appears that this collaboration is paying off in a big way. Vertex recently announced that the two companies “engrafted new genetic instructions” successfully in five patients with beta-thalassemia patients as well as two patients with sickle-cell disease.
Reportedly, one patient who received the treatment for beta thalassemia had needed 34 transfusions per year prior to that treatment. Fifteen months after the treatment, this patient was reported as being free of transfusion dependence.
Moreover, a patient who underwent the sickle-cell disease treatment had suffered seven blood-vessel blockages annually prior to the treatment. Yet, nine months after the treatment, the patient reportedly had not experienced any blood-vessel blockages.
The Final Word
CRISPR’s results in the its partnership with Vertex are promising and indicative of what may be a real breakthrough moment in the battle against these unfortunate conditions.
Gene-editing therapy represents the forefront of scientific progress in combating these diseases. And the price of CRISPR stock should, in due time, reflect the company’s tireless efforts in the quest for better health outcomes.
Louis Navellier had an unconventional start, as a grad student who accidentally built a market-beating stock system — with returns rivaling even Warren Buffett. In his latest feat, Louis discovered the “Master Key” to profiting from the biggest tech revolution of this (or any) generation. Louis Navellier may hold some of the aforementioned securities in one or more of his newsletters.
