Patients may suffer from the same ailments, but no two medical problems are exactly alike. That much is confirmed by genetic code, indicating the ARK Genomic Revolution Multi-Sector Fund (CBOE: ARKG) is an avenue for investors looking to tap into increasing levels of personalized care in cancer treatment.
ARKG includes companies that merge healthcare with technology to capitalize on the revolution in genomic sequencing. These companies try to better understand how biological information is collected, processed, and applied by reducing guesswork and enhancing precision, restructuring health care, agriculture, and pharmaceuticals in the process.
Some compelling data points highlight the allure of personalized medicine as a way of improving patient and investor outcomes.
“Cancer researchers have deduced that personalized medicine leads to better patient outcomes. At the University of California, after a meta-analysis of 346 Phase I trials, scientists found that biomarkers improved patient response rates by 30% while non-biomarker trials improved response rates by only 4.9%,” according to ARK Invest research.
ARKG’s Long-Term Prospects
ARKG’s primary focus is to seek long-term growth of capital via active management. The fund invests primarily in domestic and foreign equity securities of companies across multiple sectors, including healthcare, information technology, materials, energy, and consumer discretionary.
Early detection is another area of significant opportunity for some ARKG components.
“At the University of Michigan, scientists found that human melanoma metastases transplanted in mice correlated to human clinical outcomes. While the use of mice as metastatic predictors is not scalable or practical, especially because tumors take months to grow, the results from the trial are likely to encourage a shift toward personalized approaches beyond genetics,” notes ARK Invest.
Evidence of improved health is yet to be known, and soaring medical costs continue to burden the nation’s economy. Once hospitals make the investment, they could be pressured to recommend the therapy when a less expensive alternative would work just as well.
The progress in fighting cancer hasn’t come from cures. Most gains come more from prevention, early detection, and enhanced treatment.
“Organoids, for example, replicate organ complexity and can monitor the interaction between and among cells as therapies impact organs. ARK believes that innovation in personalized medicines could deliver much better patient outcomes in the future,” concludes ARKG’s issuer.
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The opinions and forecasts expressed herein are solely those of Tom Lydon, and may not actually come to pass. Information on this site should not be used or construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any product.