3 Personalized Medicine Stocks to Buy for Long-Time Returns

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  • Personalized medicine is bringing safer, more effective treatments to every patient.
  • Exact Sciences (EXAS): Using genetic profiling to find the perfect drug target for each patient’s cancer.
  • GSK (GSK): A big data analytics company searching for the perfect drug targets.
  • Adaptive Biotechnologies (ADPT): Creating drugs that reprogram a patient’s immune system to better fight diseases.
personalized medicine stocks - 3 Personalized Medicine Stocks to Buy for Long-Time Returns

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Medicine is not always simple. A drug that cures one patient can easily kill another, based on anything from their weight to their genes to anything else. Because of that doctors must always be cautious and must know everything they can about their patient before giving them a strong treatment. Accordingly, personalized medicine stocks are becoming much more important for investors to understand.

Personalized medicine promises to bring the best treatment to every patient. If you know everything there is to know about a patient’s health, you can tailor your treatment to most quickly and efficiently cure them. The cure may not work for everyone. In fact, it may not work for anyone but this one patient. But if it cures them, well, they won’t complain.

However, to achieve this, companies are in need of an incredible amount of data about the patients. Additionally, these companies need to know a lot about their drugs too. Because of this, personalized medicine often goes hand in hand with Big Data.

For the companies that can achieve it, personalized medicine promises to be the future of medicine. These promise that everyone can get a treatment tailored to them and them alone, bringing happier patients and a lot more money. So here are the top three personalized medicine companies to invest in for 2023.

EXAS Exact Sciences $79.19
GSK GSK PLC $36.53
ADPT Adaptive Biotechnologies $6.46

Exact Sciences (EXAS)

OLK Stock. Modern Medical Research Laboratory: Two Scientists Wearing Face Masks use Microscope, Analyse Sample in Petri Dish, Talk. Advanced Scientific Lab for Medicine, Biotechnology. Blue Color. KZR stock. RSLS stock
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Every cancer is slightly different. Some cancers are driven by mitochondrial dysfunction. Some are driven by DNA damage pathways. Others are driven by cell signaling pathways. Treating the specific driver of a patient’s cancer can lead to better outcomes than giving a broad, nonspecific treatment.

That is the promise behind Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) and their suite of cancer tests. Rather than force doctors to treat a cancer with broad, generally applicable treatments, these diagnostics allow a doctor to prescribe a precise treatment specifically tailored for the patient. Exact Sciences tests allow doctors to read the DNA and RNA of cancerous cells to determine how they act, and which medicines may be most effective. Notably, their recently-released OncoExTra provides comprehensive gene profiling of a patient’s cancer.

Exact has shown that there’s a deep market for its tests. Its recent earnings report showed revenue growing by 25% from Q1 2022 to Q1 2023. The company has also increased its revenue guidance and expects to become cash flow positive in 2023. Future growth seems certain, as an aging population means there will simply be more cancers to be treated.

Many of the newest cancer drugs are indicated for only certain subtypes of cancer, meaning those that harbor a specific mutation. In order to use those drugs, a doctor will first need to test if the patient’s cancer actually has that mutation. For that, they’ll have to turn to a genetic profiling service, like those provided by Exact. Exact has positioned itself well for the continued growth in precision medicine services, making them one of the best personalized medicine stocks to buy now.

GSK PLC (GSK)

A GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) office in London.
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GSK PLC (NYSE:GSK) (formerly GlaxoSmithKline) recently made headlines with their first-in-the-world RSV vaccine, but their foray into personalized medicine is even more exciting. They have had a long term partnership with Tempus (privately held) to use its AI-enhanced platform to improve clinical trials and drug design. From this, they will also receive access to de-identified patient data.

All this data comes on top of a long-term partnership with 23andMe (NASDAQ:ME). In that partnership, GSK receives both genomic data and direct data about the patient’s health and life. 23andMe is somewhat unique in the amount of non-genetic health data they have managed to extract from their many users. And by receiving this data, GSK can better understand the interplay between a patient’s health and their genomes. This combination of genetic and patient data lets GSK better understand its drug targets.

Altogether, GSK has a good drug pipeline, a treasure trove of genetic and patient data, and AI-enhanced platforms that will allow them to use this data. Accordingly, this combination provides the company with the ability to create drugs and treatments specifically targeted for any of the myriad of different ways a disease can present itself.

GSK is a great investment even outside of their precision medicine activities. Their Q1 2023 earnings statement shows $8.77 billion in sales and $2.04 billion in net income. With a large number of drugs, plenty more in the pipeline, and a strong position in medical Big Data, they’re one of the best personalized medicine stocks for the long haul.

Adaptive Biotechnologies (ADPT)

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Adaptive Biotechnologies (NASDAQ:ADPT) is named after the adaptive immune system, the system in our bodies that responds to disease. Their technology hopes to harness the power of the immune system for treating a variety of disorders and diseases. Adaptive’s flagship product is clonoSeq, which can track any traces of leukemia left in a patient following chemotherapy.

While Adaptive Biotechnologies is currently small, they’ve got strong ongoing collaborations that can lead to big success. Their collaboration with Roche Group (OTCMKTS:RHHBY) has led to a pipeline to produce T-cell therapies for a variety of cancers and diseases. T-cell therapies are powerful as they can harness the patient’s own immune system to respond to diseases. And that can be a more effective and much more targeted response than any drug or medicine.

Adaptive Biotechnologies is still a speculative play though. Their Q1 2023 earnings showed just $37 million in revenue and $58 million in net losses. Those numbers missed analyst estimates, and led to a big drop in stock price. But as far as speculative plays go, Adaptive is using some of the most fascinating technology available in medicine today. And the potential returns on their technology are sky-high, due to how the immune system can be programmed to fight any disease. So, for an investor willing to take a risk, this is still a strong personalized medicine stock to hold for the future.

On the date of publication, John Blankenhorn did not hold (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.

 


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