The genomics space is rapidly innovating. The ARK Genomic Revolution Multi-Sector Fund (ARKG ) makes accessing innovation much easier.
For investors, ARKG’s active management and utility are vital because the fund is flexible and able to capitalize on genomics advancements more rapidly than index-based rivals. Those advancements include gene editing.
“Crispr-Cas9 is the second generation of technologies that seek to repair thousands of inherited genetic disorders and battle cancer in new ways. Gene editing is advancing so quickly that next-generation technologies are already on the heels of Crispr-Cas9, including a more-precise tool called base editing,” reports Bill Alpert for Barron’s.
The CRISPR technology may also be under the spotlight as another disease fighting tool, with the world refocusing on the need for improved healthcare solutions.
ARKG: A Prime Gene Editing Idea
The ARK Genomic Revolution ETF tracks the convergence of tech and healthcare. The underlying components are expected to substantially benefit from extending and enhancing the quality of human and other life by incorporating technological and scientific developments and advancements in genomics into their business.
“While gene-editing start-ups will lose money during years of clinical trials, it’s hard to say the stocks are overvalued. If their one-time interventions can cure diseases that otherwise require chronic treatment—or lack any treatment at all—then the stocks will fly,” according to Barron’s.
That speaks to a big advantage with ARKG: investors don’t have to stock pick in the gene editing arena.
Looking ahead, CRISPR-based innovations to accelerate given the technology’s ease of use, cost-efficacy, a growing body of research surrounding its safety, and AI-powered CRISPR nuclease selection tools. CRISPR could also be utilized to address some of the most prominent healthcare problems, which opens up a significant investment opportunity in monogenic diseases.
CRISPR can cut DNA/RNA at a single point or in stretches; insert DNA/RNA and create novel gene sequences; activate and silence genes without making permanent changes; regulate protein expression levels epigenetically; record and timestamp biological events; track the movement of specific biological molecules; identify the presence of specific cancer mutations and bacteria; locate molecules without making changes; target and destroy specific viral and bacterial DNA and RNA; interrogate gene function multiplexed, and activate drug release at a specified trigger.
“Because gene editing permanently changes the genome, it doesn’t appear to suffer from these issues. Nature evolved many tools to cut DNA at specific spots in the genome,” adds Barron’s.
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