Update-1 A bit of a sell-off in gene therapy but MGTX at new highs at $29.44.
- Profit taking on Sarepta down 3.84% to $150.59.
- Roche (RHHBY) and Merck (MRK) near new highs.
- Mid-caps mixed but Novacure (NVCR) rally 3.27% toward new highs.
- One of our top picks Amarin (AMRN) from the JPMorgan Healthcare Conf soared 16.27% on revenue guidance boost.
- XBI stalled at $87.62 down 0.71%.
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Gene Therapy Big Winners 2019 YTD
- Sarepta (SRPT) takes lead in Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) and a broad portfolio.
- M&A has already begun with Roche acquisition of Spark Therapeutics.
- Large biopharma is under fire on pricing and generics and technologies are old.
We have written about gene therapy stocks several times in the past but on March 1, 2019 Barron’s wrote an article : “Why Big Pharma is Diving into Gene Therapy” and this catapulted the clinical stage companies bringing sharper focus to investors.(see companies below).Most of these companies focus on rare diseases and Hemophilia A is a substantial opportunity for a cure. Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is another important target for replacement gene therapy and recently Sarepta (SRPT) had competitive news that drove their stock up 17% last Friday.Apparently recent clinical data from Pfizer (PFE) released suggest an edge for Sarepta’s gene therapy because of safety issues.
- Voyager Therapeutics (VYGR) up 189%.
- MetraGTx (MGTX) up 173%.
- Unique (QURE) up 174%
- Audentes (BOLD) up 70.45%
- CRISPR Theraputics (CRSP) upo 57.68%
Selected Gene Therapy Stocks 2019
We hope to add cover new “gene therapy” stocks at a later date like the recent hot IPO Adaptive Biotechnologies (ADPT) focused on the immune systems and T-cell receptors. Also note that Spark Therapeutics (ONCE) is in the final stages of a $4.8B buyout of Roche (RHHBY) but delayed amid competitive worries.
| From Barron’s | ||||||
| (6 stocks below)) | ||||||
| Company | Symbol | Price | Price at | Mkt Cap | YTD Perf | |
| 6/29/19 | 52 wk hi | $B | Perf % | |||
| Audentes Therap | BOLD | 37.86 | 42.7 | 1.67 | 70.46 | |
| MetraGTx | MGTX | 26.88 | 27 | 0.896 | 173.45 | |
| RegenexBio | RGNX | 51.37 | 85.1 | 1.88 | 18.56 | |
| Solid Biosci | SLDB | 5.75 | 54.54 | 0.37 | -80 | |
| uniQure | QURE | 78.15 | 82.49 | 2.95 | 174 | |
| Voyager Therap | VYGR | 27.22 | 28.79 | 0.612 | 189 | |
| Diversified Plays | ||||||
| Biomarin | BMRN | 85.65 | 106.74 | 15.337 | 0.81 | |
| Sarepta | SRPT | 151.95 | 165.87 | 11.27 | 41.35 | |
| Other | ||||||
| Amicus | FOLD | 12.48 | 16.82 | 3.174 | 24.3 | |
| bluebird bio | BLUE | 127.2 | 183.6 | 7.012 | 27.84 | |
| Gene Editing | ||||||
| CRSPR Therap | CRSP | 47.1 | 66.26 | 2.58 | 57.68 | |
| Editas Medicine | EDIT | 24.74 | 38.77 | 1.22 | 6 | |
| Intellia Therap | NTLA | 16.37 | 35.3 | 0.748 | 19.49 | |
| Sangamo Ther | SGMO | 10.77 | -3.9 | 1.24 | -8.57 | |
| IBB | 109.1 | 122.97 | 11.74 | |||
| XBI | 87.71 | 101.17 | 20.38 | |||
It is a little late to initiate new positions in gene therapy but every portfolio needs to have 2-3 of these stocks. All of them are volatile and the technologies are at an early stage of clinical development so opportunities will arise.
Disclosure long CRSP MGTX