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The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: CRISPR Therapeutics, Vertex Pharmaceuticals and Intellia Therapeutics

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – January 20, 2021 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: CRISPR Therapeutics AG (CRSP - Free Report) , Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (VRTX - Free Report) and Intellia Therapeutics, Inc. (NTLA - Free Report) .

Here are highlights from Tuesday’s Analyst Blog:

Why Is CRISPR (CRSP - Free Report) Up More than 80% in the Last 3 Months?

Shares of CRISPR Therapeutics have rallied 87.3% in the past three months compared with the industry's increase of 15.4%.

The company has made rapid progress with the development of its lead pipeline candidate, CTX001. The candidate is an investigational ex vivo CRISPR gene-edited therapy, which is currently being developed for treating sickle cell disease ("SCD") and transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia ("TDT") in partnership with Vertex Pharmaceuticals.

In December 2020, the companies announced promising additional data on CTX001, which demonstrated a consistent and sustained response in treating patients with SCD and TDT. Treatment with CTX001 showed that all seven patients with TDT remained transfusion independent until the last follow-up, while all three patients with SCD were free of vaso-occlusive crises through the last follow-up.

Both diseases have a significant unmet medical need, and if successfully developed and commercialized, the candidate can lend a huge boost to CRISPR Therapeutics' prospects.

Notably, CTX001 has been granted Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy, Fast Track, and Orphan Drug designations by the FDA for both TDT and SCD. The European Commission has granted Orphan Drug Designation to the gene therapy candidate for both indications.

Genomic editing to repair a defective genetic material that causes diseases using CRISPR technology is probably one of the most promising and exciting healthcare innovations seen in decades. The technology has the potential to change how diseases, especially those caused by genetic mutations, are treated.

Though the market holds great potential, competition remains stiff in the space. Other companies like Intellia Therapeutics are also engaged in developing candidates to address different indications using CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technology.

CRISPR Therapeutics is also developing three gene-edited allogeneic cell therapy programs, chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) candidates, CTX110, CTX120 and CTX130 for the treatment of hematological and solid tumor cancers. Several data readouts on the above candidates are expected in the ongoing year and a positive outcome might drive the stock further up in the days ahead.

Zacks Rank

CRISPR Therapeutics currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.


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Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (VRTX) - free report >>

Intellia Therapeutics, Inc. (NTLA) - free report >>

CRISPR Therapeutics AG (CRSP) - free report >>

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