We are entering a golden age in healthcare.  Applying modern technologies to procedures, device development, and drug discovery will lead to cures and outcomes heretofore unimaginable.  Diseases long thought to be absolute death sentences will be conquered, quality of life for patients will improve, and lifespans, most likely will lengthen.  Leading the charge will be developments in the biotechnology industry where new approaches to drug discovery and genetic manipulation will lead to customized treatments, one and done therapies, and once again, positive outcomes, once thought impossible.

The changes we are about to witness in the coming years will be startling.  Perhaps the best analogy to describe these changes, and the speed with which they are likely to occur, is the rise and impact of the Internet in the 1990’s.  Remember how we lived, worked and played before the emergence of Internet, and now appreciate the transformative nature of most everything after its widespread adoption.

We will have moved from tromping around in the rain forests looking for potential medicinal plants to editing an individual’s genetic code in the hope for cures.  Recognizing that we only just recently, the early 2000’s, sequenced the human genome.  The speed with which the industry has progressed is impressive.  And now a number of companies are in late stage clinical trials in immunotherapy, gene therapy, new monoclonal antibody offerings and the like.  Clinical trials have also occurred where first generation gene editing was done in the human body rather than in vitro.

Early results for some of these trials have been promising, while the number of potential treatments entering the clinic is rapidly accelerating.  Interestingly, this is happening at a time when the large pharmaceutical firms have limited pipelines of potential products suggesting an increase in partnering activities and/or wholesale buyouts; in other words, a very attractive environment for investors.

So, an economy that is restructuring, a technology driven emerging bull market, and a healthcare reformation should all contribute to a very exciting investment environment over the coming years.