For most investors, how much a stock's price changes over time is important. This factor can impact your investment portfolio as well as help you compare investment results across sectors and industries.

Another thing that can drive investing is the fear of missing out, or FOMO. This particularly applies to tech giants and popular consumer-facing stocks.

What if you'd invested in Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX Quick QuoteVRTX - Free Report) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to VRTX for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?

Vertex Pharmaceuticals' Business In-Depth

With that in mind, let's take a look at Vertex Pharmaceuticals' main business drivers.

Boston, MA-based Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated is focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of small molecule drugs targeting serious diseases. The company’s main area of focus is cystic fibrosis (CF).

The company’s portfolio includes five medicines that treat the underlying cause of CF. These include Trikafta (elexacaftor/tezacaftor/ivacaftor and ivacaftor), Symdeko/Symkevi (tezacaftor/ivacaftor and ivacaftor), Orkambi (lumacaftor/ivacaftor), Kalydeco (ivacaftor) and Alyftrek (vanzacaftor/tezacaftor/deutivacaftor). Its five medicines are collectively approved to treat nearly 75% of the 94,000 people with CF in the United States, Europe, Canada and Australia. 

In 2023/early 2024, Vertex received regulatory approvals for its one-shot gene therapy, Casgevy, for treating two debilitating blood disorders, sickle cell disease (SCD) and transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia (TDT), in the United States, European Union and some other countries. Journavx (suzetrigine), Vertex’s non-opioid NaV1.8 pain signal inhibitor, was approved for the treatment of moderate-to-severe acute pain in January 2025.

Vertex is also developing treatments for acute and peripheral neuropathic pain, APOL1-mediated kidney disease (AMKD), IgA nephropathy (IgAN), primary membranous nephropathy (pMN) and other B-cell-mediated diseases, myotonic dystrophy type 1 and autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD).

The company recorded total revenues of $11.02 billion in 2024, up 12% year over year. Trikafta/ Kaftrio accounted for more than 90% of the company’s total product revenues and generated $10.24 billion in sales in 2024.

Bottom Line

Anyone can invest, but building a successful investment portfolio takes a combination of a few things: research, patience, and a little bit of risk. So, if you had invested in Vertex Pharmaceuticals a decade ago, you're probably feeling pretty good about your investment today.

A $1000 investment made in February 2016 would be worth $5,188.06, or a gain of 418.81%, as of February 3, 2026, according to our calculations. This return excludes dividends but includes price appreciation.

The S&P 500 rose 266.60% and the price of gold increased 290.97% over the same time frame in comparison.

Going forward, analysts are expecting more upside for VRTX.

Vertex's cystic franchise sales continue to grow, driven by higher sales of Trikafta/Kaftrio and the launch of Alyftrek. Among its newly launched products, the uptake of Alyftrek has been strong, while the launch of Journavx and Casgevy has been slower than expected. Vertex is rapidly advancing its diverse late-stage pipeline with five programs in pivotal development, setting the stage for several potential new drug approvals in a couple of years. Vertex's candidates for kidney diseases are capturing investor attention, mainly povetacicept. However, Vertex's dependence on just the CF franchise for revenues is a concern. CF sales are slightly slowing down. Recent pipeline setbacks in the pain program are a concern.Estimates look stable ahead of Q4 earnings release. Vertex has a mixed record of earnings surprises in recent quarters.

Shares have gained 5.17% over the past four weeks and there have been 3 higher earnings estimate revisions for fiscal 2025 compared to none lower. The consensus estimate has moved up as well.