Investing in cutting-edge companies is a bit riskier than investing in tried-and-tested players, but breaking new ground can sometimes offer outsized rewards. On that note, Editas Medicine (NASDAQ: EDIT) and Intellia Therapeutics (NASDAQ: NTLA) are both exciting gene-editing businesses that aspire to treat or cure human illnesses using some of the most advanced biotechnologies that exist at the moment.
But there's a clear winner of this matchup when it comes to which is the more attractive opportunity to invest in. Let's dive in.
Editas is ambitious, but will it be enough?
With its shares down by 87% in the last three years, Editas is definitely a battered biotech, but it isn't anywhere close to going out of business. Its only clinical-stage programs are a pair of gene therapies for transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia (TDT) and sickle cell disease (SCD), both of which are in early-stage trials, and both of which could be curative. It faces two main risks: Failing to prove that its therapies are safe and effective in its clinical trials, and failing to gain a market share if it eventually succeeds in getting its medicines approved.
Regarding the first risk, so far there aren't any signs that its candidates for SCD and TDT are in danger of letting investors down. Competition is bound to be a real problem, however. Bluebird Bio and CRISPR Therapeutics are miles ahead of Editas, with both recently commercializing their near-curative or curative therapies for SCD. Bluebird also already has its curative TDT medicine on the market, and CRISPR is likely to follow with an approval in the U.S. this year. Years from now, at best Editas will be fighting them for scraps of the market, assuming it can get regulators to give it the green light at all.
Nonetheless, the business is likely to survive for the near future. Editas' trailing-12-month total expenses are $233 million, and it has $350 million in cash, equivalents, and short-term investments. When paired with a $100 million licensing deal from Vertex Pharmaceuticals announced in December, $50 million of which is to be paid in cash up-front, management figures that the company has enough money to last it through the start of 2026. That probably won't be enough time for it to commercialize anything from its pipeline, but it might be enough to generate some decent results from its clinical trials and entice new collaborators.
The argument for Intellia
Intellia's challenges are very similar to those of Editas although it's aiming to compete in a different set of markets and facing a different set of competitors. It's developing two curative gene-editing therapies, one of which, its candidate for transthyretin (ATTR) amyloidosis, is about to begin its phase 3 clinical trials. Therefore, it has a much better chance of commercializing its first medicine within the next few years than Editas does, a major point in favor of it being the better gene-editing stock.
Management thinks that the market for ATTR drugs could become as large as $11 billion by 2026. Given that the average cost of treating ATTR currently is in the ballpark of $450,000 per year per patient, its fix, if permanent, could be quite economically appealing in comparison to the existing therapies.
And that's what's likely motivating collaborators like Regeneron to want to work with the company. It's also a valuable driver that would help it to gain market share even if the competition is entrenched -- unlike the situation faced by Editas.
Finally, Intellia's cash holdings total $855 million, and its TTM expenses are $537 million. That means it has less gas in the tank than Editas, and also that it might need to raise some additional money via another offering of its shares within the next two years. In other words, the risk of getting your shareholder value diluted by new stock issuance is high.
Take care to hedge your bets
At the moment, Intellia is probably the better gene-editing stock. It's simply much closer to obtaining its first approval, which will be a major milestone, as well as a critical de-risking catalyst for shareholders. The fact that it might be able to price its candidate to steal market share from the existing therapies is also a major plus.
However, as it's a risky pre-revenue biotech stock, it makes sense to avoid investing in it until your portfolio is properly diversified with a collection of safer investments -- and even then, don't bet the farm.
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Alex Carchidi has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends CRISPR Therapeutics, Editas Medicine, Intellia Therapeutics, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals. The Motley Fool recommends Bluebird Bio. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
