Today, gene-editing stock Editas Medicine (NASDAQ:EDIT) is seeing impressive selling pressure. Currently, shares of EDIT stock are down 20% on heavy volume as investors continue to re-assess their growth holdings today.
Despite a rather nice bounce back for equities following yesterday’s decline, today’s price action across specific stocks has been choppy. Editas has been one of today’s big losers amid this volatility.
The gene-editing sector is one that’s been a go-to growth area for investing gurus such as Cathie Wood of late. Her genomics exchange-traded fund (ETF) has enticed many investors to consider the long-term growth potential of these stocks. Within the ETF, EDIT stock takes a top-40 position but is certainly not one of the largest holdings right now.
Perhaps Cathie Wood knows something we don’t. Or she’s just lucky. However, EDIT stock is one that’s lost more than 50% of its value year-to-date, following an impressive runup through the end of last year.
Let’s dive into the company-specific news that’s moving EDIT stock right now.
EDIT Stock Down on Clinical Trial Results
Today, Editas Medicine released clinical data for its ongoing BRILLIANCE trial for its EDIT-101 treatment. This treatment was provided to four patients with Leber congenital amaurosis 10 (LCA10). Because it’s a relatively small study with a small sample size, investors were hoping to see meaningful results across all four patients today.
However, the company reported “meaningful improvements” for one patient with this blindness-causing genetic disorder. One other patient was declared stable following the treatment.
However, these results appear to have left investors hanging with respect to the gene-editing value relative to other treatment options. An experimental RNA-based treatment for the same blindness disorder showed higher efficacy and more improvement. Accordingly, questions as to how viable and effective Editas’ gene-editing treatments can be relative to alternatives is driving uncertainty with EDIT stock.
Right now, Editas and its peers have a ways to go to convince regulators and investors of the transformative and ground-breaking nature of this technology. Time will tell how effective future treatments are relative to the alternatives. However, today’s results have left many investors wanting.
On the date of publication, Chris MacDonald did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
