Mad Hedge Biotech and Healthcare Letter
February 15, 2022
Fiat Lux
Featured Trade:
(AN EMERGING LEADER IN THE HEALTHCARE REVOLUTION)
(CRSP), (VRTX), (EDIT), (NTLA), (PFE), (NVS), (GILD), (RHHBY), (BMRN), (QURE), (SGMO), (CLLS), (ALLO), (BEAM)
Mad Hedge Biotech and Healthcare Letter
February 15, 2022
Fiat Lux
Featured Trade:
(AN EMERGING LEADER IN THE HEALTHCARE REVOLUTION)
(CRSP), (VRTX), (EDIT), (NTLA), (PFE), (NVS), (GILD), (RHHBY), (BMRN), (QURE), (SGMO), (CLLS), (ALLO), (BEAM)
Mankind has always imagined a future filled to the brim with technological advancements serving as the panacea to all our ills.
One of the prevailing ideas focuses on the developments found in the healthcare sector.
Movies, television shows, graphic novels, and books have all pictured a world with such revolutionary technologies capable of not only diagnosing but also curing any and all types of diseases.
Since the introduction of these ideas, many have believed that these would remain in the fictional universe. However, these “ideas” have slowly transformed into reality.
One of the biggest indicators that we’re heading in that direction is the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry by Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier. The two were recognized for their pioneering work in CRISPR-Cas9.
Basically, Crispr-Cas9 functions like molecular scissors.
What makes this technology incredible is that Crispr-Cas9 can classify a single address out of 3 billion letters within the genome by using only a particular sequence. With this, we can repair thousands of genetic conditions and even offer more potent ways to battle cancer.
This Nobel Prize led to commercializing the 2012 discovery, Crispr-Cas9, at breakneck speed, with gene-editing companies like CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP), Editas Medicine (EDIT), and Intellia Therapeutics (NTLA) gaining a considerable boost in their values.
Surprisingly, the trajectory of these gene-editing stocks took a tragic turn in 2021.
In fact, the once-upon-a-time-market-darling CRISPR Therapeutics saw its market capitalization brutally shaved off from $8.7 billion to $4.55 billion in the past months.
No matter how we look at it, there’s genuinely no way to sugarcoat the reality: the market has been second-guessing CRISPR Therapeutics’ ability to truly deliver on its promise.
That is, investors have started to wonder whether the company’s early stage success would amount to anything commercially.
CRISPR Therapeutics is currently working on a treatment that would implant tumor-targeting immune cells on cancer patients. The company is also prioritizing therapies that could edit cells to treat diabetes.
So far, it has made significant progress in developing treatments for a genetic disorder called sickle cell.
In the US alone, at least 100,000 people suffer from sickle cell disease, with 4,000 more born every year. Conservatively, we can estimate at least 3,000 patients availing of this one-time treatment at over $1.6 million a pop.
To date, CRISPR Therapeutics has five candidates under clinical trials for diseases like B-thalassemia, sickle cell disease, and other regenerative conditions.
It has four more queued, which target diabetes, cystic fibrosis, and Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Compared to its rivals in the space, it’s clear that CRISPR Therapeutics is ahead when it comes to product development and trials.
Two of its candidates, transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia treatment CTX001 and sickle cell disease therapy CTX110, have already been submitted for clinical tests for safety and efficacy.
Recently, Vertex (VRTX) boosted its 2015 agreement with CRISPR Therapeutics by 10%, with the deal reaching $900 million upfront to push for quicker results in developing CTX001.
This is a crucial move for Vertex, but more so for CRISPR Therapeutics as CTX001 holds a highly lucrative addressable market.
The additional funding significantly widened the gap between the Vertex-CRISPR team and bluebird bio (BLUE) in the race to launch a new gene-editing therapy targeting sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia.
To sustain its growth, CRISPR Therapeutics’ strategy is to develop drugs that only require mid-level complexity but can rake in generous financial rewards.
This is a similar tactic used by bigger and more established biotechnology companies like Pfizer (PFE), Novartis (NVS), and Gilead Sciences (GILD).
Evidently, this strategy is a great way to ensure cash flow.
Aside from its earnings from the commercialization of these products, CRISPR Therapeutics can also attract larger companies to buy the intellectual property of their breakthrough treatments.
After all, startups generally get 100% premiums in contracts with Big Pharma.
Good examples of this are Novartis that bought AveXis and Roche’s (RHHBY) purchase of Spark Therapeutics.
The Roche-Spark agreement led to the first ever FDA-approved treatment since gene therapy trials started in the 1990s. It was for the genetic blindness therapy Luxturna, which received the green light in 2017.
The second approved treatment was a muscle-wasting disease therapy Zolgensma, which was the fruit of the Novartis-Avexis acquisition.
Both conditions are rare, but the financial rewards are impressive.
At $2 million for each treatment, Zolgensma sales reached $1.2 billion annually. At the rate the therapy is selling, Novartis estimates that Zolgensma will surpass the $2 billion mark in 2021.
Novartis and Roche aren’t the only ones partnering with smaller gene editing companies.
Pfizer has been working with biotechnology companies BioMarin Pharmaceutics (BMRN) and UniQure (QURE) to develop a treatment for blood-clotting disorder hemophilia.
The COVID-19 frontrunner is also collaborating with Sarepta Therapeutics (SRPT) to come up with a treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Gene editing has also served as the foundation for several biotechnology companies out there today like Sangamo Therapeutics (SGMO), Cellectis (CLLS), and Allogene Therapeutics (ALLO).
The market size for gene editing treatments is estimated to be worth $11.2 billion by 2025, with the number rising between $15.79 billion to $18.1 billion by 2027.
This puts the compounded annual growth rate of this sector to be at least roughly 17%.
While this is already groundbreaking with only a handful of companies knowing how to utilize the technology, the gene-editing world has come up with a more advanced technique than Crispr-Cas9.
The technology is founded on the “base editing” or “prime editing” technique, which is the simplest type of gene editing that alters only one DNA letter.
So far, one company holds exclusive rights to this technology: Beam Therapeutics (BEAM).
When the technology became public, Beam stock has increased sixfold since its IPO in February 2020.
This latest development can resolve thousands of genetic diseases. However, it still requires further trials since “base editing” can also trigger damaging responses from the body.
Overall, I think CRISPR Therapeutics is the most promising among these high-risk stocks.
The data from two of its candidates, CTX001 and CTX110, are promising. The added funding from Vertex boosts the confidence of investors that a regulatory approval is well on its way.
The company is also sitting on a massive cash pile and investing aggressively across different rare disease programs.
While the company has yet to be considered a major force in the biotechnology world, the potential multiple successes of its products could generate a company worth hundreds of billions.
This potential alone offers an investing opportunity with a substantial asymmetric advantage for its current share price.
However, bear in mind that the stock is not for conservative investors considering risks.
More importantly, its pipeline requires patience. Hence, CRISPR Therapeutics should be played as a long-term investment.
Mad Hedge Biotech and Healthcare Letter
February 10, 2022
Fiat Lux
Featured Trade:
(A HEALTHCARE ENIGMA TO ADD TO YOUR WATCHLIST)
(GILD), (JNJ), (PFE), (ABBV), (LLY), (MRK), (BMY),
(AMGN), (MRNA), (AZN), (REGN), (BNTX), (NVAX)
The top names in the biopharmaceutical world based on their market capitalization include Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Pfizer (PFE), AbbVie (ABBV), Eli Lilly (LLY), Merck (MRK), Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY), Amgen (AMGN), and Gilead Sciences (GILD).
Among these names, Gilead is often viewed as an enigma, given its history and the challenge in predicting its share price trajectory.
Over the past months, Gilead has been testing the patience of investors. In fact, the company is projected to experience a fall in revenues this year from $27 billion in 2021 to $24.05 billion in 2022.
The latest news that added to their anxiety was the pause on clinical trials for its cancer therapy, Magrolimab.
This came after its short-lived dominance in the Hepatitis C segment.
At that time, the sales of its leading drug Sovaldi skyrocketed from $140 million in 2013 to a jaw-dropping $10.2 billion by 2014.
Meanwhile, another Hepatitis C treatment, Harvoni, single handedly raked in $13.8 billion in sales in 2015, pushing the entire company’s revenues to an impressive $32.6 billion.
Unfortunately for Gilead, it became the victim of its own staggering success.
Its Hepatitis C treatments, Sovaldi and Harvoni, were incredibly effective and managed to cure the patients within months. The demand for these drugs fell because the patient pool gradually ran dry.
By 2019, the Hepatitis C franchise of the company had declined and managed to scrape $2.9 billion in combined sales.
Since then, though, the company has been struggling to regain investors' faith.
Nevertheless, these recent developments are not enough reasons to panic. If anything, Gilead has simply become even more attractively priced due to the fallout.
In 2020, Gilead managed to report its first year-on-year increase in revenues since its glory days in 2015.
As the COVID-19 pandemic started to take hold of the world, it was Gilead’s Veklury (Remdesivir) that secured the first-ever Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA.
While Veklury was eventually overshadowed by COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna (MRNA), JNJ, and AstraZeneca (AZN), as well as other treatments and antibody cocktails from Eli Lilly, Regeneron (REGN), and Merck, Gilead’s candidate managed a comeback by the fourth quarter of 2021 after experts declared it to be effective against the Omicron strain.
In effect, Veklury had a major impact on the company’s 2021 performance, recording $5.6 billion in annual sales.
Although this is not as illustrious or groundbreaking as its Hepatitis C treatments, the reemergence of Gilead as a frontrunner in the pandemic is proof that the company has not lost its knack for discovering and developing a winning formula for blockbuster treatments.
Another avenue that Gilead has been exploring is actively acquiring assets to expand its portfolio.
One notable move in that direction is its $11.9 billion acquisition of Kite Pharma, a leader in the cell therapy space, in 2017. Thus far, this agreement has yielded two drugs: Yescarta and Tecartus.
Since oncology is one of Gilead’s major areas of concentration, the commercialization of these two treatments conveys a promising future.
While both are yet to become blockbusters, the field of cell therapy has been rapidly expanding and turning into a critical therapeutic option for certain patient categories.
Yescarta is projected to rake in $1.5 billion in revenues if it receives the FDA green light for large B-cell lymphoma
Considering that its last trial data showed off a 60% improvement with Yescarta compared to standard of care in terms of halting the disease’s progression or even death, there’s a huge possibility that Gilead will be delivering good news soon.
As for Tecartus, this treatment received approval for acute lymphoblastic leukemia last year and is aiming to expand to cover mantle cell lymphoma by July 2022.
With its list price of $373,000, this CAR-T therapy is projected to reach blockbuster status in the following months as well.
Another oncology drug anticipated to reach blockbuster status soon is metastatic triple-negative breast cancer treatment Trodelvy, which Gilead gained access to following a $21 billion deal with Immunomedics in 2020.
Given its current approved indications and the queued trials to expand its coverage, Trodelvy is projected to reach $4.7 billion in peak sales.
Going back to the 2022 revenue forecast for Gilead, I think the change is from the company’s anticipated decline in Veklury sales.
Since Pfizer, BioNTech (BNTX), Novavax (NVAX), and Moderna have been actively working on Omicron-focused vaccines and treatments, Gilead expects its Veklury revenues to shrink as well.
Overall, Gilead still presents an excellent opportunity for long-term investors.
Despite its setbacks, the company has proven that it still holds the knack of rolling out remarkable and effective best-in-class treatments.
Moreover, its pipeline is filled with promising candidates poised to deliver in the years to come. So, don’t be too quick to write off Gilead just yet.
Mad Hedge Biotech and Healthcare Letter
January 20, 2022
Fiat Lux
Featured Trade:
(A NO-BRAINER DIVIDEND CONTENDER UP FOR GRABS)
(AMGN), (ABBV), (GILD), (REGN), (JNJ)
To say that biotechnology stocks haven’t been performing well as of late is an understatement.
Over the past 12 months, the SPDR S&P Biotech Exchange Traded Fund (XBI) has recorded an over 30% loss and is anticipated to reach its 52-week low soon.
Investors have been pulling back from biotechnology stocks for several reasons like threats of drug pricing reforms in the US, the ever-increasing interest rates, and of course, the lure of rapid-growth assets such as cryptocurrencies.
Nevertheless, all is still not lost for the biotechnology sector.
The industry, in its entirety, continues to move forward with unprecedented innovations.
These groundbreaking discoveries, in turn, offer a myriad of untapped, top-value markets that will bode well for long-term investors.
This means that savvy investors would do well to make the most of this broad selloff in a highly promising segment.
One way to determine quality names in this volatile sector is to choose dividend-paying stocks.
After all, dividends are excellent sources of passive income. Apart from that, these can easily boost your portfolio if you plan to reinvest your money.
Basically, regardless of your investment strategy, choosing dividend-paying businesses can be really helpful in reaching your goals.
Among the names in the biotech industry, one that looks promising these days is Amgen (AMGN).
While Amgen’s dividend yield isn’t as high as the likes of AbbVie (ABBV) and Gilead Sciences (GILD), this pioneering biotechnology company is still a promising investment.
Recently, Amgen reported another dividend increase of 10.2%, indicating a rise from $1.76 to reach $1.94 per quarter, with the subsequent dividend expected to be payable by March 2022.
This results in an annual dividend of $7.76 and a respectable dividend yield of 3.41%.
More impressively, Amgen has been paying out dividends since 2011 and boosted its dividend not only annually but with an 11.97% in CAGR over the past 5 years.
Given the company’s history and growth trajectory, Amgen’s earnings growth rate annually in the next 5 years is estimated to be 6%, while its yearly dividend hike rate is projected at 7%.
At first glance, it’s easy to dismiss Amgen’s current standing.
In the third quarter of 2021, the company’s total revenue only reached $6.7 billion, indicating a measly 4% rise year-over-year.
A potential reason for this underwhelming growth is the pending patent cliff for some of its key products and the threat of biosimilars taking over Amgen’s target markets.
For example, cancer medication Neulasta reported a 25% decline in its sales year-over-year to contribute only $415 million in the third quarter.
Needless to say, this kind of disheartening top-line growth is partly responsible for the stock’s sluggish performance in the market lately.
However, other products in the company’s portfolio have reported much better performances than Neulasta.
There’s osteoporosis treatment Prolia, which rose by 15% year-over-year to contribute $803 million in the same period.
Even cholesterol drug Repatha showed off a 33% growth to record $272 million, while arthritis medication Otezla’s sales climbed by 13% to rake in $609 million.
On top of these, Amgen has also succeeded in developing new products that can easily provide additional revenue streams.
One of the most promising recently approved products is advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treatment Lumakras, which received the US FDA green light last year.
Although there are many approved drugs for this condition, Lumakaras is the first and only treatment that targets specific mutations among non-squamous NSCLC patients.
This translates to 13% of patients suffering from that particular condition.
This is a massive market for Amgen.
Back in 2019, lung cancer was identified as the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States.
At that time, the total was 139,603 individuals, which made up 23% of all the deaths attributed to the condition. Among the lung cancer deaths, 84% were identified to be of the NSCLC category.
So, if you put everything in perspective, the 13% patient population that Amgen exclusively holds equates to a big opportunity.
In addition, the European Union already approved Lumakras as well. This opens up yet another massive market for the treatment.
In the third quarter of 2021, Lumakras only delivered $36 million in sales. With the recent approvals and broadening of markets, this drug’s revenue is projected to rise quickly.
Aside from these products, Amgen has been working on expanding its pipeline. To date, the company has over 20 ongoing Phase 3 clinical trials.
Moreover, Amgen has decided to take a page out of the books of biosimilar developers.
As the company witnessed its own products get pummeled by biosimilars in the market, Amgen has opted to cannibalize sales of a wide range of treatments that lost their patent exclusivities.
This strategy has already delivered rewards, with the company reporting at least $2 billion in annual sales from its biosimilars in 2021.
For 2022, Amgen has three more biosimilars under development and is looking into poaching the likes of Regeneron’s (REGN) Eylea and Johnson & Johnson’s (JNJ) Stelara as well.
Despite the pandemic, Amgen has managed to extend its dividend growth streak to reach 11 consecutive years. This makes this biotechnology company an impressive Dividend Contender.
Overall, I consider this company a solid buy and an excellent long-term investment. It’s not simply an undervalued pick for value investors but also an outstanding choice for dividend investors.
Mad Hedge Biotech and Healthcare Letter
January 6, 2022
Fiat Lux
Featured Trade:
(A WONDERFUL COMPANY AT A FAIR PRICE)
(ABBV), (BRK.B), (GILD), (AMGN), (PFE)
Another year, another set of challenges and opportunities for investors. How can you make sure that you’re starting the year right?
If you’re looking to dip your toe in the biotechnology and healthcare sector, it won’t hurt to look at what the experts, such as Warren Buffett, are doing.
With a 55-year track record of 21% in annual returns for its Berkshire (BRK.B) investors, I’d say the Oracle of Omaha definitely knows his craft.
One of his most famous pieces of advice is to buy “wonderful companies at fair prices,” and I think this pearl of wisdom perfectly fits Buffett’s favored high-yield aristocrat: AbbVie (ABBV).
More interestingly, AbbVie is currently undervalued primarily due to overblown fears of patent loss for its top-selling drug Humira in 2023 and another in 2026 for Imbruvica.
Admittedly, the anxiety of investors is not entirely unfounded.
After all, AbbVie must replenish roughly $20 billion worth of annual revenue from Humira alone in the following years as the drug loses its patents and faces declining sales.
Obviously, losing revenue from a primary growth driver could be a massive problem for any company.
It could even lead to stagnating numbers in the next couple of years — a situation that the likes of Gilead Sciences (GILD), despite its $90.58 market capitalization, have become all too familiar.
Nevertheless, AbbVie isn’t simply twiddling its thumbs, waiting for the inevitable patent loss to happen.
The company has been busy preparing for the Humira and Imbruvica patent cliffs. In fact, it has been working to diversify its portfolio steadily.
One of the steps it undertook was to leverage its cash flow and $238.35 billion market capitalization to boost its R&D.
This led to AbbVie holding one of the industry’s most robust pipelines to date.
Some of the most promising products in its portfolio are Humira successors Skyrizi and Rinvoq.
Together, these two treatments are estimated to generate more than $15 billion in sales by 2025.
And AbbVie isn’t done yet.
Following its wildly successful formula in Humira, AbbVie is also looking into expanding the indications for the drug’s successors.
So far, Rinvoq has been able to deliver on this promise. Recently, this Humira successor has received FDA approval as a second-line treatment for psoriatic arthritis.
With this second indication, more and more investors are starting to believe that AbbVie has yet another blockbuster in the making.
Let’s look at the market for Rinvoq’s latest indication.
In the US alone, there are approximately 1 million to 2 million patients of psoriatic arthritis. For simplicity’s sake, let’s just say that there are 1.5 million patients in the US.
Generally, the first-line of treatment typically fails for 20% of psoriatic arthritis patients. That leads to roughly 300,000 patients who would be in need of second-line treatment.
For the sake of accuracy, it’s vital to point out that there are already a number of psoriatic arthritis treatments available in the US, such as Otezla and Enbrel from Amgen (AMGN). Moreover, JAK inhibitors are still facing potential restrictions from the FDA, thanks to the issue with Pfizer (PFE).
So, we can conservatively say that AbbVie’s Rinvoq might only be able to capture an estimated 7% of the psoriatic arthritis market share.
This translates to approximately 21,000. The annual list price for Rinvoq is at $63,000.
Taking into consideration the negotiation tactics of health insurers for price adjustments, the drug might go down to an annual list price of $44,000 instead.
Based on these conservative assumptions, Rinvoq would rake in sales of over $900 million—falling only slightly below the $1 billion blockbuster mark.
While this only hits less than 2% of AbbVie’s anticipated $56.2 billion annual revenue, this trajectory is a massive success for Rinvoq.
Bear in mind that this Humira successor has been on track to generate over $1.5 billion in sales in 2021.
Hence, adding $900 million from its psoriatic arthritis indication would offer a whopping more than 60% jump in its annual revenue.
Considering its history and trajectory, AbbVie is expected to continue to outshine its rivals in the industry.
Actually, the growth consensus for this stock is at 4% to 6.5%.
While that does not sound very impressive, it’s important to remember that the long-term growth rate for the whole industry is only 4%.
That easily puts AbbVie ahead of at least 63% of its peers in terms of growth.
Aside from the fact that this blue-chip stock is an excellent way to enjoy a solid 4.3% yield these days, the company is proving to be effective in ensuring that it delivers market-beating returns in the long run.
Needless to say, AbbVie qualifies as a classic “wonderful company at a fair price.”
Mad Hedge Biotech and Healthcare Letter
December 21, 2021
Fiat Lux
Featured Trade:
(A BREAKOUT BIOTECH WITH A STRONG STAYING POWER)
(MRNA), (PFE), (BNTX), (MRK), (AZN), (VRTX), (CRSP), (GILD)
The biotechnology and healthcare sector has been ruthlessly hammered in 2021.
In fact, the largest exchange-traded funds that keep track of the biotechnology industry have been in the negative in the past months.
However, the string of bad news doesn’t automatically mean that none of the biotechs can deliver strong returns in the coming days.
An excellent example of a biotech that’s an exception to the general theme of the sector these days is none other than the famous Moderna (MRNA).
Moderna stock has already delivered a 434% gain in 2020. Meanwhile, it has so far recorded a 160% rise this year—a number that’s expected to go higher before 2021 ends.
These gains came after the biotech became one of the market leaders in the COVID-19 vaccine race, alongside Pfizer (PFE) and BioNTech (BNTX).
Considering how COVID-19 catapulted the stock to dizzying heights, some investors fear that Moderna’s performance will decline in a post-pandemic setting.
That’s not necessarily the case.
Viruses present complex problems. Right now, we’re dealing with yet another coronavirus variant, Omicron.
This latest strain appears to be more contagious than the previously discovered Delta variant, which was then reported to be more virulent than the original.
What’s the takeaway here?
COVID-19 isn’t going to disappear anytime soon. Since the vaccines and boosters seem to wane gradually, these are expected to become staples moving forward.
This means everyone will need ongoing protection, which translates to ongoing sales for vaccines and boosters for companies like Moderna.
Moreover, the continuous demand for new and more potent vaccines makes it a no-brainer that Moderna will once again deliver market-crushing performances in the next few years.
For context, the company estimates that Spikevax, its COVID-19 vaccine, will rake in roughly $15 billion to $18 billion in sales in 2021.
Orders for 2022 have been secured as well, with Moderna already locked in for over $22 billion worth of Spikevax doses through advance purchase deals.
This is still expected to rise, considering the vaccines under development for the new variants getting discovered.
But even when the panic and anxiety over the viruses subside, we can still reasonably expect roughly $15 billion in annual sales from Spikevax
After all, the vaccine and boosters are expected to become the norm eventually.
Believe it or not, though, the best reason to buy Moderna isn’t its coronavirus vaccine.
Outside Spikevax, Moderna has a long list of promising pipeline candidates under development—the majority of which are based on the mRNA technology that’s behind its potent COVID vaccine.
While that does not guarantee that all the candidates will gain approval, the fact that the technology has been proven to work on humans presents a bright future for these candidates.
The company has been actively advancing its programs using its cash on hand, with over half a dozen queued in Phase 2 trials.
A potential blockbuster is its cytomegalovirus (CMV) vaccine candidate.
CMV, a virus that can be deadly to unborn babies and individuals with compromised immune systems, currently has no vaccine.
This represents an untapped market with high demand. Conservatively speaking, Moderna can generate roughly $2 billion to $5 billion in peak sales for this vaccine if it gains regulatory approval.
Other impressive programs in the biotech’s pipeline are its HIV vaccine candidate and a personalized cancer vaccine, which Moderna has been developing with Merck (MRK).
Needless to say, both hold the potential to become game-changers not only for Moderna but also for the entire industry.
Aside from its personalized cancer vaccine, another relatively advanced program in its pipeline is its work with AstraZeneca (AZN) on the AZD8601 program.
The AZD8601 program aims to use mRNA therapies to encode for vascular endothelial growth factor-A in people who are supposed to go through a coronary artery bypass grafting.
In layman’s terms, AstraZeneca and Moderna want to develop a treatment that induces the heart blood vessels of heart bypass surgery patients to repair themselves.
However, the most exciting collaboration is Moderna’s work with Vertex (VRTX) to develop a cystic fibrosis (CF) treatment.
Considering that Vertex is practically a monopoly in the CF space, this can turn out to be a lucrative direction for Moderna as well.
In terms of competition, the biotech might go head-to-head against Vertex’s other partner, CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP).
Until two years ago, Moderna was an obscure biotechnology company with no product out on the market.
Today, it is hailed as one of the biggest biotechs worldwide thanks to its market capitalization of roughly $120 billion, surpassing long-established names in the sectors like Gilead Sciences (GILD) and even Vertex.
Some investors point out that Moderna’s breakneck rise to the top might also mean a steady descent.
While I agree that its climb was faster than the usual biotech, I still believe that Moderna possesses the right tools to sustain its momentum for the years to come.
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