3 Stocks to Buy and Hold for the Next 50 Years
George Budwell (Viking Therapeutics): Investing in clinical-stage biotech stocks requires patience. As a point of fact, most drugs take upwards of a decade to complete the rigorous clinical trials process, and then it can take another two to three years for a drug to begin to carve out a profitable niche following approval. Small-cap, pre-revenue biotech Viking Therapeutics is no exception to this trend. But the pay-off for early-bird investors in this promising developmental biotech could be enormous.
Viking's investing thesis centers on the company's experimental non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) candidate VK2809. VK2809 has already posted stellar mid-stage results in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. The company thus plans to evaluate the drug in another mid-stage trial later this year as a treatment for NASH. If this next trial pans out, Viking should be poised to launch a pivotal NASH trial by either late 2020 or early 2021. The big deal is that NASH is forecast to grow into a $35 billion a year market, and there are currently no drugs approved for this devastating liver disease.
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The best part of this story is that VK2809 seems capable of becoming a backbone therapy for NASH based on its outstanding mid-stage results, although critics have been quick to point out that the drug has yet to be assessed in this particular indication directly. As an important side note, Viking is also gearing up to launch an early-stage study for VK0214 in patients with a genetic disease known as X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy, giving the company yet another major value driver in the years to come.
In all, Viking isn't a stock that's going to make you rich overnight, but it could be a great long-term buy-and-hold for risk-tolerant investors