The Ultimate Guide to
How to trade CRISPR and gene-editing stocks online
While still in its infancy, CRISPR is already being hailed as a ground-breaking tool that can be used to edit genes, and therefore transform medicine.
In its simplest form, CRISPR is a way of finding a specific piece of DNA inside a cell and then altering, deleting or replacing it.
In doing this, CRISPR has the potential to treat and prevent many diseases, including cancer, sickle cell disease, cystic fibrosis and pretty much any genetic disease.
While it does not promise to help us live forever, it will certainly change our lives forever.
CRISPR is also the technology behind ‘designer babies’ – where the genetic makeup is artificially selected to eradicate disease-causing genes, or to influence the sex or the baby. Therefore, there are controversies surrounding the use of CRISPR.
However, despite the ethical debates, there’s no doubt CRISPR will play an essential role in fighting and possibly curing some of our most deadly diseases.
As such, the global gene market has been estimated to grow by a compound annual rate of 17% to reach a mammoth $10.7bn by 2025, according to Research and Markets data.
Stocks that are leading the research and development of CRISPR include French-based biopharmaceutical company Cellectis SA.
With financial backing from Allogene Therapeutics and leading pharmaceutical company Servier, Cellectis is a strong stock.
Currently undergoing a number of CRISPR clinical trials, Cellectis is hoping to use the technology to treat a number of the world’s most prevalent diseases, including several forms of leukemia.
While its stock has been volatile over the past year, Cellectis’ share price saw an upward spike over the last month, increasing from €9.37 on 7 October 2019 to €11.31 as of November 4. As gene editing is a new industry, investors should remember to take a more long-term approach to these investments.
Another forerunner in CRISPR is US-based Intellia Therapeutics.
Its trials have been such a success it is set to submit an investigational new drug in mid-2020 for the treatment of transthyretin amyloidosis – a progressive condition that affects between 3% to 4% of African Americans and approximately 5% of people in certain areas of West Africa. Though less common among Americans of European descent, it still affects one in 100,000 of this group.
Swiss biotech CRISPR Therapeutics is another one to watch. The firm has garnered much interest due to its pioneering trials. The company has already begun treating cancer patients with an off-the-shelf solution called CTX100, which is made from donor cells, while it’s also looking at how CRISPR can be used to treat type 1 diabetes – a condition that affects millions of people worldwide.
The company’s stock has soared nearly 70% year-to-date, from just under $30.00 at the start of 2019 to $49.25 as of 4 November.
Why use a regulated online broker to trade CRISPR and gene-editing stocks
For any investor this is a specialist area and understanding the fundamentals and drivers of the businesses involved takes significant time and research. Any biotech guru will tell you that for every 10 companies, nine will most likely fail, making it extremely difficult to back a winner.
Of course, there aren’t many ways to get exposure to such a niche area of the market other than to invest directly into the individual stocks – most open-ended funds or exchange-traded funds offer exposure to the wider biotech or pharmaceutical market.
However, Etoro does have the CRISPR-Tech CopyPortfolio that provides exposure to the companies investing in the innovative gene editing tool that is revolutionising biotechnology. This portfolio contains large cap companies with a collective market cap of over $300bn and small cap biotech firms with a market cap of $1bn that are steering the future of this sector.
Stocks in the portfolio include Merck, Agilent Technologies, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Sangamo Therapeutics, Intellia Therapeutics, Editas Medicine, Spark Therapeutics, Cellectis SA, Sarepta Therapeutics.
Driving fundamentals of CRISPR
CRISPR-based technology is not just being adopted in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.
The possibilities presented by CRISPR appear to be endless.
Lab tests have found CRISPR could be used to alter foods in order to eradicate a number of food allergies, such as milk and nut allergies – many of which can be life-threatening.
Researchers from Wageningen University in the Netherlands are using CRISPR to modify the DNA of wheat to remove gluten, meaning millions of celiacs could then consume the crops.
It doesn’t end there. Scientists are exploring how CRISPR can edit the genes of various crops to make them more nutritious, with big agrochemical companies including Monsanto licensing CRISPR to create new crops.
Gene editing could also be used in the ever-important renewable energy sector. For example, California-based company Synthetic Genomics is applying CRISPR to create modified strains of algae to produce more viable forms biodiesel – which could be a big deal for the sustainable energy sector.
Facts
- The global market for CRISPR was estimated at $1.22bn in 2017 and is predicted to reach $5.3bn by 2025, according to a report by research firm Ahead Intelligence
- The North American CRISPR market is expected to hold the largest global share by 2027 due to strong growth in the US biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries
- Major stocks including Sangamo Therapies, CRISPR Therapeutics and Editas Medicine are trialling CRISPR to help treat sickle cell disease – the most common inherited blood disorder in the United States
- Currently, there is no worldwide framework regulating the use of CRISPR
However, an international group of ethicists and researchers are lobbying for a global framework to govern the clinical uses of human gene editing
