Businesses in the biotechnology sector focus on creating new medicines and diagnostic tools to address the needs of patients better.
However, before being considered for clearance by the FDA in the United States, many items must undergo extensive testing, which may be expensive and time-consuming (FDA).
That means it might be years before investors determine whether their money was well spent on a developing medicine.
According to some researchers, this is the “golden era” of biotechnology. New illness treatment and prevention methods are becoming possible because of scientific progress.
There are promising investment prospects in the biotech industry. Many of the top biotech firms also already have successful pharmaceuticals on the market and robust pipelines of potential new treatments to develop.
The biotechnology industry has significantly benefited from the COVID-19 pandemic as they work to produce a vaccine and treatment for the virus.
Here are the top six if you’re looking for a good biotech stock to invest in for 2022.
BioNTech SE
BioNTech SE, headquartered in Berlin, Germany, is an immunotherapy firm focusing on creating treatments for cancer and other life-threatening disorders. The firm produced an anti-COVID-19 vaccine in tandem with Pfizer Inc.
The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was given emergency approval by the FDA on June 17 for use in children six months to 4 years old. Vaccination was previously approved for those aged five and above.
Exelixis
Four of Exelixis’s medications are now available to consumers. Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HC) are the most frequent forms of kidney cancer and liver cancer, respectively; Cabometyx is authorized to treat both of these cancers and thyroid cancer it the company’s largest success.
In early 2021, the FDA approved Exelixis and Bristol-Myers Squibb’s (NYSE: BMY) use of Cabometyx in combination with Opdivo, an immunotherapy medicine manufactured by Bristol-Myers Squibb. In addition to developing Cabometyx, Exelixis is collaborating with Roche (OTC: RHHBY) to test its efficacy with Roche’s Tecentriq, an immunotherapy medicine for the treatment of cancer. Both of these combinations aim to treat patients with RCC who have not previously received therapy.
Because of its strong financial position, Exelixis may pursue additional license arrangements and broaden its medicine catalog. For example, it has licensed the rights to develop XL102, an early-stage cancer medication discovered by the development-stage biotech firm Aurigene, and it has licensed a panel of monoclonal antibodies discovered by the business WuXi Biologics. Exelixis has also purchased the AMHR2 antibody development projects from GamaMabs Pharma.
Alkermes PLC (ticker: ALKS)
It’s possible that U.S. investors don’t see Alkermes, located in Dublin, as a top biotech company. Despite the S&P 500’s double-digit decline this year, it is one of the best performing industries, up more than 20% year to year. That’s partly because of the company’s promising future based on its existing product pipeline and an April earnings report showing that ALKS produced better-than-expected sales and profitability in Q1.
Investors are feeling bullish on the firm as Lybalvi, an antipsychotic medicine, continues to be rolled out ahead of schedule. In addition, they are encouraged by the 31% revenue increase of its antipsychotic therapy Aristada and the better-than-anticipated performance of its freshly licensed drug addiction treatment Vivitrol. This leading biotech stock is expected to continue its upward trend for the foreseeable future.
United Therapeutics, Inc.
United Therapeutics is a biotech firm specializing in creating pharmacological medicines and technologies meant to expand the pool of organs that may be used in transplants. Initial fiscal first quarter 2022 figures were released in early May. The fiscal Q1 ended March 31, 2022.
Revenue increased by 21.8% YOY, but net income increased almost eight times. In addition, total operational expenditures decreased from the same period last year, which boosted net income.
Twist Bioscience
The scientists at Twist Bioscience have invented a method of “writing” DNA onto a silicon chip. The pharmaceutical industry utilizes the company’s synthetic DNA for drug discovery and development in applications such as synthetic genes, next-generation sequencing library creation, and antibody libraries.
The roughly 3,000 clients of Twist in 2021 came from a wide range of fields, including but not limited to academic research, agriculture, healthcare, and industrial chemicals. Company finances are not yet generating a profit. However, thanks to the introduction of new goods built on its synthetic DNA, Twist’s revenues have been skyrocketing.
According to Twist, their annual addressable market is now $3 billion. It’s possible, however, that the need for data storage on DNA chips may be far greater than the business anticipates. The yearly value of this market might approach $35 billion. The development of a DNA data chip by Twist is still in its infancy, but the business has already reached many milestones.
Sierra Oncology
Sierra Oncology is a late-stage biopharmaceutical business focusing on developing tailored therapeutics for treating uncommon kinds of cancer. The agreement to be bought by GlaxoSmithKline PLC was disclosed in April.
About $1.9 billion will change hands by the end of the third quarter of 2022 in this deal.
Read More: 6 Best Biotech Stocks To Buy in 2022