Three Key Innovations in the Age of 'Precision' Medicine

'One size fits all' in America's health care system... Why today's doctors will soon look medieval... Three key innovations in the age of 'precision' medicine... This revolution is one of the greatest wealth-building events of your lifetime...

Editor's note: Today we bring you a guest essay from our friend and noted tech investor Matt McCall, a senior editor at InvestorPlace, our corporate affiliate.

In the last decade alone, Matt has recommended more than 200 stocks that have delivered returns anywhere from 100% to 2,700%, and he's known for finding companies that no one else is talking about.

"He sees opportunity and innovation where others don't," our Steve Sjuggerud says. In today's Digest, Matt shares one sector he's looking to for his next big winners...

Picture a bizarre clothing store for a moment...

You walk in. An employee sizes you up and asks if there's anything in particular you're looking for. After learning that you're a size "large" and that you'd like some new dress shirts, the employee takes you to a table covered with them. They're all the same size: XL, extra-large.

"Strange," you think, and go to another table covered with shirts. All the shirts are the same size. All XL.

"Stranger," you think, and go to another table covered with shirts. Once again, all the shirts are the same size. All XL.

Sensing your confusion, the employee explains the store's "one size fits all" policy. The owners know people come in many shapes and sizes, but XL is the only size of clothes they can get from their suppliers.

You walk out of the "one size fits all" store, thinking it's one of the most ridiculous things you've ever seen.

A 'one size fits all' clothing store isn't too different from America's health care system...

Lacking the resources to treat us as individuals – with different genetic makeup, different diets, and living in different environments – doctors frequently resort to treating patients with "one size fits all" procedures and medicines.

And since most doctors rush patients in and out of the office to boost profits, the pressure to use subpar, "one size fits all" treatments is massive.

Don't get me wrong: Our approach to health and medicine is light-years ahead of where it was in the 1800s. Bloodletting is no longer a "go to" move for doctors.

However, many of the decisions made by today's health care professionals will look medieval when compared to the treatments of the near future...

They simply don't take into account that every case is different – that we are all unique.

Take the commercials for popular drugs you see on television... which list lots of horrible side effects (which don't work for everyone who takes them).

Soon, we'll say goodbye to those types of treatments.

That's because the age of customized, 'precision' health care is getting started...

The result will be a massively improved health care system... and some of the biggest wealth-building opportunities of your life.

In today's Digest, I (Matt McCall) will describe the three key trillion-dollar innovations that will take us into the age of precision medicine. Investors will want to pay attention.

In America, we spend $3.5 trillion – about 18% of gross domestic product ("GDP") – on health care.

So when something big happens in the health care industry, it creates giant ripple effects in the economy that enrich those who know what's happening.

Let's get started...

The first trillion-dollar innovation is 'genome sequencing'...

Every cell in your body has a set of genetic instructions that dictates what you look like, what your athletic abilities are, what your mental abilities are, what diseases you're likely to get, and dozens of other key things that make you... YOU.

This set of instructions is called your "genome." Determining exactly what your genome says is a process called "genome sequencing."

In 2003, an international research organization known as the Human Genome Project sequenced a human genome for the first time. The project's price tag was an enormous $3 billion.

Thanks to incredible advances in computing power, that same sequencing can be performed today for less than $1,000. And in a few years, the price will be as low as a dinner for two.

Genome sequencing is a critical part of precision medicine because it allows medical professionals to get an incredibly detailed analysis of who you are. As a result of this information, doctors can recommend treatments that are right for you.

Sixteen years ago, getting this kind of detailed information was prohibitively expensive. But now that costs are down more than 99% and poised to go down even more, genome sequencing is about to go mainstream.

Genetic testing will become part of regular medical care... just like taking your pulse and your blood pressure. It's going to usher in an era of much more effective health care.

It'll be in large part thanks to the second trillion-dollar innovation – digital patient records...

It's one thing to have lots of information. It's an entirely different – and more valuable – thing to be able to analyze that information and use it to make important decisions.

This is where digital patient records come in.

Genome sequencing will produce vast amounts of information that will need to be stored and analyzed. Just as the processing power of our computers has increased by leaps and bounds since 2003, our ability to collect and store information has increased as well.

This continued growth is a key part of precision medicine. That's because genome sequencing is going to generate a stupendous amount of information.

It is predicted that the amount of storage capacity for all human genome data will increase to 40 exabytes by 2025. To put that into perspective, experts believe all videos on YouTube will require one to two exabytes of storage and Twitter will require 0.001 to 0.017 exabytes.

For analyzing all that data, we come to the third trillion-dollar innovation – artificial intelligence ('AI') doctors...

As you can guess, we're not going to sift through some of the world's largest data sets with a pen and paper in hand.

We're going to use AI to perform advanced data analysis. AI programs will sift through data to identify treatments that work for patients with specific genetic conditions.

These programs will be able to do more "thinking" in one minute than millions of doctors could do in a decade. It's going to revolutionize health care.

In fact, I believe that within the next 30 years, AI will know how various combinations of molecules will affect patients on an individual level. We'll have giant databases of patients and their genetic makeups... and we'll be able to test new drugs with computer simulations. The time it takes to devise, test, and produce new life-saving drugs will be massively condensed. Plus, the cost of doing it all will plummet.

We'll have vast databases of human genomes and the ability to create and test new customized treatments in seconds. It could easily become the most valuable technology on the planet. Again, this is years away, but I believe it's going to happen.

Let me sum everything up for you...

One size fits all.

Thanks to the technological limitations of the past, our health care system is based on treatments that are not tailored to your genetic makeup. We're using "shotgun" approaches instead of targeted ones.

However, thanks to cheap and widespread genome sequencing, digital recordkeeping, and artificial intelligence, we're about to enter an amazing era of precision, personalized medicine.

Over the next 20 years, the health care system we know and don't love will change dramatically. We'll look back at some of today's treatments as medieval.

Remember: In America, we spend $3.5 trillion – about 18% of GDP – on health care. When something big happens in health care, it creates giant ripple effects...

That's why the precision medicine revolution is one of the greatest wealth-building opportunities of your life...

The opportunities are not in the "old school" Big Pharma names like Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). They are in precision medicine and the technologies that will enable it.

Everything from digital-records company Cerner (CERN) to gene-testing pioneer Illumina (ILMN) to contract research services firm IQVIA (IQV) will take the lead in the future of precision medicine.

And keep an eye on the initial public offering ("IPO") market here as well. We'll see waves of early-stage companies going public... many with the potential to not only revolutionize medicine, but to revolutionize your net worth as well.

If you want to know more about these kinds of opportunities, you're in luck...

On Wednesday, July 31, I'm teaming up with Stansberry Research to host a special free event.

For the first time in my 17-year investing career, I'm going to share all the details of my stock-picking strategy... It applies to the innovative parts of the health care industry that I've talked about today, and every corner of the market for that matter.

If you join me, you'll learn how I identify stocks that can deliver returns of 1,000% or more... the common DNA that all of these stocks share... and how to spot them years before they shoot up 10 times or more.

I'll also give away the name of a little-known company that I believe is headed for "10x" gains next and share a handful of other tickers that are at the top of my watchlist.

You'll get access to all that just by signing up for this one-night-only event. Learn how to watch it by clicking right here, and I hope to see you there.

New 52-week highs (as of 7/22/19): First Majestic Silver (AG), Blackstone (BX), CBRE Group (CBRE), Sprott Physical Gold and Silver Trust (CEF), First Trust Nasdaq Cybersecurity Fund (CIBR), Fidelity Select Medical Technology and Devices Portfolio (FSMEX), Barrick Gold (GOLD), iShares U.S. Aerospace and Defense Fund (ITA), Nuveen Preferred Securities Income Fund (JPS), Medtronic (MDT), Microsoft (MSFT), Match Group (MTCH), Osisko Gold Royalties (OR), ResMed (RMD), ProShares Ultra Technology Fund (ROM), Sandstorm Gold (SAND), Sprott (TSX: SII), ProShares Ultra S&P 500 Fund (SSO), Stryker (SYK), T-Mobile (TMUS), ProShares Ultra Financials Fund (UYG), Vanguard S&P 500 Fund (VOO), Wells Fargo – Series W (WFC-PW), Wheaton Precious Metals (WPM), and W.R. Berkley (WRB).

In today's mailbag, several subscribers write in to compliment Dan's Digest essay from yesterday on juiced baseballs and stocks... Have a comment, question, or concern? As always, send your e-mails to feedback@stansberryresearch.com.

"I am 100% in agreement with Dan's email. He is not a Chicken Little downer. He is telling the absolute truth. I have been a serious investor for 30 years, exhilarated during stock market rises, crushed during the inevitable falls. But, I was fortunate. When corrections occurred, I still had enough assets to meet my financial goals.

"The most dangerous belief system when investing? In my mind, it is these statements: 'It's different this time. The old rules no longer apply.' Only partly because of cheap money, negative interest rates, and massive amounts of BBB corporate debt, the next recession in the economic cycle is going to cause tremendous pain for almost everyone.

"That pain, however, will be even more severe for the unwary. Dan's philosophy is sound. That is one reason that I am a Stansberry subscriber. The other reason is that I am a SBUX stockholder also." – Paid-up subscriber Lawrence S.

"Dan Ferris's juiced baseball analogy is brilliant. This was the best Digest that I have ever read." – Paid-up subscriber Dan O.

"Dan, I appreciate your rant about valuation. I wish you could pound the table right at the top. I agree with what you are saying and know that I should reduce my risk but it is hard when the timing is somewhere down the road, potentially years. But it could also be tomorrow. That's the nature of the caribou, right?" – Paid-up subscriber Steve B.

"Kudos to Dan Ferris and the many other voices saying, 'Be careful.' Age does make a difference but all should have a plan for an unexpected but anticipated event. I have had some great runs with recommendations from Steve, Dan, Doc, and Porter.

"I have lived through some big falls like the 1987 flash crash, the dot-com bubble, and some other unexpected drops. Fortunately, I had time and foresight to say, 'I loved Motorola before the crash in 1987 and love it more now... buy.'

"I am older, hopefully wiser, and a lot more careful. I'm overweight in gold stocks but still have 35% to 40% in cash, just waiting for that moment when I can say, 'I have been here before and that looks like a good price to buy.'

"We are hungry for instruction and love learning. Continue to give us both sides of the stories so we can prepare, prosper, and survive. Thank you to each and every one of the Stansberry team." – Paid-up subscriber Mitchell F.

Regards,

Matt McCall
Baltimore, Maryland
July 25, 2019