LIVE LONG AND PROSPER

Breakthroughs that help us live longer, healthier lives can also create opportunities for investors.

- BY NELLIE S. HUANG

IN May, in a first-of-its-kind procedure, doctors cured a newborn suffering from a rare and often fatal genetic disorder using a groundbreaking, personalized gene-editing therapy. The process, called CRISPR, was decades in the making, but it isn't the only medical breakthrough that is saving or extending lives these days.

In addition to gene editing, there are gene and cell therapies, antibody-based treatments, and RNA medicine (the science behind the development of COVID vaccines), among others.

“The number of tools being used has exploded in the past few years, and it’s leading to scientific findings that are creating clinical benefits for patients,” says Zach Baca, a biotechnology analyst at T. Rowe Price. “We're actually able to manipulate biology to extend and improve the quality of life. This is what people will remember for our time.”

And it’s all happening at the very moment that people have become more health-conscious, thanks in part to the pandemic. Even the new administration is tapping into the zeitgeist (and promoting its public health policies) with its slogan, “Make America Healthy Again.” But regardless of politics, the focus on living healthy for longer is intensifying, and that’s fueling growth in a so-called longevity economy.