This 'Jump to Humans' Is Changing Medicine Forever
An IV drip of 'gene editing'... A breakthrough trial to treat a fatal disease... This 'jump to humans' is changing medicine forever... The value of being first – and right... Try Stansberry Innovations Report risk-free today...
The stunning news came out at the end of last month...
Six courageous trial participants in the United Kingdom and New Zealand took an intravenous ("IV") dose of "gene editing"... And a month later, the signs of a rare, fatal disease in each of their bodies had almost entirely disappeared.
The disease is hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis... It occurs in an estimated 50,000 people worldwide who were born with gene mutations that cause their livers to produce abnormal proteins. These proteins build up in the body, causing a host of problems in the nervous system, heart, and other organs.
As for the breakthrough treatment, we've talked about it here in the Digest before – "CRISPR" gene editing. The world-changing scientific method has been years in the making... And when used correctly, it has the potential to treat all kinds of genetically traced diseases.
But until now, the proprietary and Nobel Prize-winning process – something that Stansberry Innovations Report editor John Engel has previously described as gene "scissors" – had only been clinically proven to work in the lab.
In most previous studies, cells were removed from the human body, treated, then reintroduced to the body.
This time was different. We're now talking about an IV infusion of genetic code going straight into the body...
On June 26, Intellia Therapeutics (NTLA) announced the incredible results...
Even the optimistic scientist overseeing this cutting-edge trial was shocked when he saw the findings. Dr. David Lebwohl, who is the chief medical officer of the small biotech firm, told the industry publication Fierce Biotech...
It's actually beyond what we expected, which is a wonderful thing.
Only four weeks after receiving a single dose of this gene-editing treatment through an IV, six patients in the first-of-its-kind trial had an 87% mean reduction in "serum TTR." That's the concentration created in the body by transthyretin ("TTR"), or misfolded proteins.
Caused by a genetic mutation, these proteins can lead to symptoms like numbness in the legs, feet, and hands... And left untreated, the symptoms can get much worse. But because of the common nature of the symptoms, the source can be difficult to recognize and diagnose...
That's where this technology, which John presciently described back in a March 2019 Digest and the December 2019 issue of Innovations Report, comes into play. CRISPR can find markers in the body through ways other methods simply can't. As John wrote in the March 7, 2019 Digest...
CRISPR-Cas9 – which is more commonly referred to as just CRISPR (pronounced "crisper") – is like a "genetic scalpel." In simple terms, it's like running a search function on your computer. By typing a phrase, your computer can find that sequence in a document.
CRISPR has a similar function, except it "finds" the genetic letters of DNA. For example, CRISPR can seek out a string of DNA code within the vast sequence of the human genome. That's like searching through a document with 1.35 billion words – the length of nearly 2,500 copies of War and Peace.
And as John also wrote in that Digest, CRISPR isn't merely a powerful search function. It can also alter genetic sequences (and now do it in the body)...
In other words, it's like the genetic version of the "find and replace" function in a Microsoft Word document. That's how the gene-editing tool earned its reputation as a potential miracle medicine that could correct some of the most troubling genetic diseases.
We know this topic raises questions and concerns about what would happen if this science were to get into the wrong hands... And of course, it brings up the boundaries of how far gene editing can and should be taken – the phrase "gene editing" alone scares a lot of folks, after all.
We aren't discounting those points at all.
But this is a potentially game-changing "jump to humans"... It's kind of like COVID-19 (however it happened), except for good reasons... In fact, part of this treatment uses messenger RNA ("mRNA"), the same technology now made famous by the COVID-19 vaccines.
As we reported in the October 12, 2020 Digest, the folks who created CRISPR technology earned a Nobel Prize last year because of its potential – something John predicted would happen. Intellia's trial results, essentially, are another...
You see, John recommended that Innovations Report subscribers buy NTLA in December 2019...
And we imagine that subscribers who took his advice back then are happy they did... the position in NTLA is up nearly 600% since John's initial recommendation (including advice to sell partial positions as a way to hedge gains along the way)... And NTLA shares are up more than 65% over the past few weeks alone after the trial news hit the mainstream media.
John, who worked as a research scientist developing novel drugs before he joined Stansberry Research in 2015, recommended NTLA shares for all of the reasons we stated above – and more. As he told us in a private note last week...
As we highlighted in our issue back in 2019, it's proof of concept that's really impactful here. The science is maturing and will continue changing the way we think about medicine.
In other words, this news isn't just about treating hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis...
Although it might be welcome to the tens of thousands of folks who suffer from the disease (and potentially many more who might not even know they have it), the scope goes well beyond treating one disease. According to Intellia's Lebwohl...
[It] opens up a whole new area of therapies for patients that wasn't there... The potential is to some degree unlimited. Really it's just using our imagination of how we can affect human disease more profoundly.
This is exactly what John wrote about in 2019...
He noted that then-U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") Commissioner Scott Gottlieb had recently predicted that the agency would approve up to 20 new gene-therapy products annually by 2025, based on an assessment of the pipeline of clinical treatments at the time.
To put that in perspective, over the prior 10 years, the FDA averaged 33 new drug approvals annually. As John said in the March 2019 Digest...
That means new gene-therapy treatments could account for more than half of all approvals by 2025. In other words, we're not just looking at a minor blip for this subsector of the biotech industry... We're on the cusp of a major storm of new medicines.
And in the December 2019 issue of Innovations Report, he explained that one particular group of treatments should stand out from the rest...
CRISPR/Cas isn't the sole gene-editing technology out there. But it is the most cost-effective and simple to use. It's versatile and has more than one medical application.
We like to call this type of technology a "picks and shovels" play. The term originates from the California gold rush. The surest bet wasn't on the mines... or on the people who hoped to strike it rich. The surest bet was on the folks selling the literal picks and shovels – the necessary tools required to mine.
John did the work, he was early, and he was right...
He reported that the two people who discovered CRISPR – biologists Dr. Jennifer Doudna and Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier, who would go on to win the Nobel Prize last year – had founded or co-founded several companies that owned the core patents to the technology.
He also shared the interesting, serendipitous story about the women meeting at a conference in Puerto Rico in 2011.
Needless to say, those patents are worth billions of dollars today. These companies are just starting to partner with larger biotech firms.
This Intellia trial, for example, was done in partnership with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN)... That's the company that created the "COVID antibody cocktail" given to then-President Donald Trump and other people who could afford to pay for the treatment.
Intellia was one of the companies founded by the CRISPR scientists, and John recommended buying shares of two others as well in the same December 2019 issue. Today, these companies are also up big – 139% and 106%. More from the issue...
CAR T-cell therapies are ushering in a new class of cancer treatments. CRISPR/Cas gene editing is the most effective way to reprogram white blood cells to fight cancer.
And as the industry builds on early successes in this developing field, it will require more complex gene-editing tools to produce cancer cell therapies of the future.
The industry will turn to CRISPR/Cas. And we'll be there first.
Ain't that the truth... Kudos to John on this great call.
The only unfortunate thing for folks reading today's Digest is that Intellia and the two other companies I've referenced are well above John's recommended "buy up to" prices...
Fortunately, the Innovations Report features roughly 10 other companies still within buy range...
These recommendations all come with the same attention to detail as the ones we've discussed today. And more are on the way...
In fact, John and his research team are putting the finishing touches on their newest issue as we go to press. It's due out on Friday...
Subscribers can expect a brand-new recommendation on a manufacturing company with ties to the semiconductor industry. Plus, John will provide an update and more details on Intellia, including why this trial is just the "tip of the iceberg" for CRISPR technology.
If you don't already subscribe to the Innovations Report, there has never been a better time to do so than right now...
You can receive all of John's research in this newsletter for a full year for just $49. The moment you sign up, you'll get complete access to the full Innovations Report recommended portfolio, all the past issues, and all the subscribers-only research reports.
In this advisory, John looks for strong companies that are staking out their spots in the burgeoning technology industry, treat shareholders right, and provide the opportunity for outstanding gains.
As we mentioned, John previously worked in a drug discovery lab before joining Stansberry Research. Combine that with the ability to spot great companies and you can see why he has expertise that many folks on Wall Street simply don't have...
Best of all, everything comes with a 30-day risk-free trial. Get started right here.
Max Keiser Doubles Down on His Bitcoin Forecast
Amid bitcoin's recent price correction, Max Keiser of the Keiser Report – one of the most recognized names in the crypto space – just doubled down on his call for the cryptocurrency to hit $220,000 by the end of the year...
Click here to watch this video right now. For more free video content, subscribe to our Stansberry Research YouTube channel... and don't forget to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
New 52-week highs (as of 7/9/21): Apple (AAPL), ABB (ABB), Automatic Data Processing (ADP), American Homes 4 Rent (AMH), American Tower (AMT), American Express (AXP), AutoZone (AZO), Crown Castle (CCI), Costco Wholesale (COST), Hallmark Financial Services (HALL), Hershey (HSY), Invitation Homes (INVH), Nuveen Preferred Securities Income Fund (JPS), Motorola Solutions (MSI), Cloudflare (NET), ProShares Ultra S&P 500 Fund (SSO), Stamps.com (STMP), Trane Technologies (TT), Vanguard S&P 500 Fund (VOO), and Zebra Technologies (ZBRA).
In today's mailbag, feedback on Dan Ferris' Friday Digest and whether you're bullish or bearish today... What's your answer? As always, e-mail your comments and questions to feedback@stansberryresearch.com.
"I'm reluctantly bullish. Hard to believe SPY and QQQ keep going higher, but I'm not about to fight the tape. Until the chart says otherwise, buy the dip. It's a bull market, you know." – Paid-up subscriber Beau E.
"Slightly bullish for the short term, bearish for the long term." – Paid-up subscriber Jim B.
"Somewhere in between!" – Paid-up subscriber Rodolfo S.
"If you have your stops and are comfortable following them, why be either bearish or bullish? That's where I am... agnostic since tops are usually long and hard to call exactly." – Stansberry Alliance member John P.
"Great article! Very sobering, and kind of scary. As with everything in this life, proper balance is required, especially with investing. The financial letter industry needs 'fools' like you to anchor peoples' feet to the ground so that they don't float away in the exciting clouds of unending riches. For those people that will heed your advice, that is. Keep up the good work." – Paid-up subscriber M.K.
"Sobering, but badly needed. I've been working on convincing my wife that holding more cash now is the same thing to do. I was meeting some resistance, but reading your article sealed the deal." – Paid-up subscriber E.L.
"With $13.2 trillion of negative yields bonds worldwide, where money is supposed to go? With the lowest in history yields on 10 year T Bonds, where money is supposed to go to beat inflation? I don't have the answer yet. I'm still stuck on equities, but I don't know for how long." – Paid-up subscriber José F.
"Maybe what's happening with a lot of people who began investing in 2020 is that they somehow think that the unbelievable rise in growth stocks from March to February is the norm. Even I, who have been doing this for a few years, have to remind myself that last year was not the norm and that my portfolio high point in February was likely way overvalued. But, as they say, hope springs eternal." – Paid-up subscriber Michael S.
"I agree with you that valuations are extremely stretched and at some point this will come to an ugly end but the question at the moment is, where do you put your money??? Cash earns you nothing while inflation is starting to explode. The government is forcing you to buy stocks. People who have been through brutal bear markets are getting concerned. Younger investors have no idea what's coming." – Paid-up subscriber Richard L.
"You never mentioned 'Don't Fight the FED!' by Martin Zweig (in my opinion the second Jesse Livermore). Perma-bears keep calling for a market correction but with interest rates very low and money dropping from never-never land where are you going to invest money? The 2008 disaster in the housing and lending market takes at least an average of 20 years or more to achieve stability. Japan is still trying to recover from their disaster from the early 1980s. It's my opinion we are following a parallel path with the Japanese.
"Will there be a 20% or more correction some day? Of course but when. Only a Black Swan will cause the BIG correction now. I am prepared to sell all my positions if the SPY corrects to the 75 day moving average but not until then. It used to be the 50 day moving average, [but] the glut of money has changed my mind." – Paid-up subscriber Frank T.
All the best,
Corey McLaughlin
Baltimore, Maryland
July 12, 2021