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“Biotech Scientists Discover ‘Magic’ Keys to Immortality” (“Dr. Allen’s … RNA Interference Revolution: Your Ticket to Centuries of Health and Wealth”)

The Oxford Club says that "The First Person to Live to Age 1,000 Has Already Been Born" and pitches this stock as the "Death of Social Security"

[Ed note: This article was originally published in June, 2013 when the shares of the stock teased, Alnylam (ALNY) were around $30 and the Oxford Club was saying that the first person to live to 1,000 is already alive … now they’re touting it as the holder of the “Magic” Keys to Immortality, but the tease and the details (and the stock) are still the same. The latest pitch is based partly on upcoming catalysts, particularly the “winding down” of Phase 2 studies on their lead drug and the likelihood that they will soon get approval to start Phase 3 studies for this drug that has an FDA “orphan” designation, which they think will rocket the stock higher.

What follows has not been updated, edited or revised, but ALNY is now a $11 billion company with a share price of roughly $110, it has had its ups and downs after being teased two years ago, but it has been generally very strong and we last re-published this piece about a year ago when the stock was at less than half this price. I don’t know a lot about the company or the science behind it, and didn’t know much about it then either (sometimes I’ve got an opinion, sometimes I can just get you the stock name and ticker and let you get started on your own), so I’m republishing this instead of re-writing it — that will let us stay connected to the original stream of comments. If you want to see some of the more recent chatter on this, you can also check the article we wrote when Michael Robinson was using a similar “How to Live Forever” shtick in teasing this same company, about a month ago, for his Nova-X Report.

I hope you find the following helpful, but it at least answers the question so many have asked: “what’s Oxford Club’s ‘Magic Keys to Immortality’ stock?”]

—-following was published June 29, 2013 and has not been edited or updated—

“Just one company stands to make the lion’s share from this radical life extension phenomenon…

“It’s locked down nearly every patent behind this technology.

“The founder of this company, a Nobel Prize-winning scientist, is the same man who founded one of the most storied biotech companies ever.

“His first biotech outfit saw its stock go from $3.08 a share to over $240 a share. That’s when his company developed and released a treatment for a debilitating – and often deadly disease.”

I can see why so many folks have been asking about this latest pitch from the Oxford Club — not only do you get that kind of exciting story, but you also get the coincidence that the folks who buy investment newsletters tend to mostly be in their 60s and 70s and quite interested in health and rejuvenation and life extension, and the ad came in under the headline that …

The First Person to Live to Age 1,000 Has Already Been Born…

Presumably that’s going to be one of the people who are a few months old now, and you also have to see a real exponential hockey-stick chart of life expectancy to get to 1,000 years old — along, of course, with a complete change to the structure of human life on earth — but the more realistic-sounding projections, based on some big breakthroughs like the one being teased here, are that it’s possible for adults alive now to reach 150 years of age, and that the longer you live the more science will catch up with you and push that envelope further. Of course, you won’t be able to retire at 65 if you’re looking at making those monthly condo payments for another 80 years after that, but presumably you’ll be so strong and vibrant that you’ll be working as a longshoreman for a little fun and pocket change in your spare time.

But anyway, this Oxford Club pitch is that there’s a spectacular biotech company that’s got RNA technology patents locked up, and visionary leadership, and they’re going to shoot to the moon over the next few years — starting soon as they release their next FDA trial results in the days and weeks to come, and accelerating by next year as Phase III trials and possible drug approvals get closer to reality.

And no, it’s not the same idea as the “God Switch” ads still being run by Patrick Cox and the Agora folks — that’s a different “become immortal” strategy based on stem cells and they were (and are, and have been for a while) teasing BioTime (BTX). This is a different approach to living “forever.”

Here’s some more from the ad, talking about the huge success this scientist had with his last company:

“In the next 90 days, we’re expecting an unprecedented and shocking announcement from this gentleman’s new ‘start-up’ biotech company…

“It’s a ‘coming out party’ of sorts for this technology.

“And when this news hits the mainstream media, I believe it could become the most talked about technology breakthrough of our lifetimes. And the stock is likely to storm up the charts as a result.”

Here’s how they describe the actual science … and let me just warn you, from here on out I’ll be playing the role of “dumb guy”, the science is out of my sphere of understanding:

“Think of your cells like tiny photocopiers. Even if you have the highest-quality printer in the world, there will be a problem if you make copies of copies of a photograph. The little imperfections add up. Eventually you won’t even recognize the image.

“But, consider if you just used the original every time you wanted a copy. Then you could make perfect replicas for years and years.

“That’s what this company’s technology does.

“Its scientists have found a way to get the ‘original’ make-up of a cell. Its treatments convince the body to use the originals only, and to destroy any damaged ‘replacement’ copies.

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“The industry term for this medicine is ‘RNA Interference.’

“Biologically it works like this…

“RNA is a messenger, copying genes from an old cell to a new cell. But what happens when RNA starts transmitting imperfections to the new cells? The answer is what we call aging… when these imperfections add up, and our body starts breaking down.

“But ‘RNA Interference’ stops the RNA from passing along these imperfections. It interferes with these mistakes, so your genes only pass along the blueprint of the original ‘perfect’ cell.

“In other words: All your new replacement cells can be as perfect as the original cells….

“Right now, doctors treat you by working outside in – using either invasive drugs or surgery.

“But using RNA Interference, it’s possible to treat disease by going inside out. That’s because this technology makes it possible to ‘turn off’ harmful genes.

“For example, let’s say one tiny cell in your body begins producing cancerous cells. With RNA interference, doctors can keep the cancer cell from ever reproducing.

“In other words, you can destroy the cancer inside your cells, before it starts.”

And here’s the understatement of the day:

“It’s unlikely you’ll be able to get a shot or pill in the next five to 10 years to get you to age 1,000.”

But they turn that into “still damn good” in the following sentences:

“After all, RNA Interference is still a very new technology…

“At its current level of development, we are perhaps decades away from using it to live a thousand years.

“That said, I am certain this company’s technology will be used to add as many as 60 to 70 additional healthy years to your life.”

Not bad, eh? So which company is this? Clues, please:

“… a small, American-based company, near the campus of MIT.

“This unknown company has unlocked the secrets of RNA. At this very moment, it’s administering these treatments to hundreds of Americans… But those numbers could be on the verge of a dramatic rise. And here’s why…

“We are only months away from an explosive announcement from this biotech company… One that could show up on the front page of every financial newspaper and website across the country.

“This is the start of something bigger than the introduction of flight by the Wright brothers. Even bigger than the birth of personal computers in the 1970s….

“The company I’ve been telling you about was founded by a scientist we’ll call ‘Dr. Allen.’ Dr. Allen is one of our greatest living scientists. In the 90s, he won the Nobel Prize for a different biotechnology, something called gene splicing.

“He’s also a professor at MIT and a member of the prestigious Royal Society of London, which once included Sir Isaac Newton among its members.

“But beyond his many scientific credentials, Dr. Allen is also an incredible businessman. In the late 70s, he founded a company we’ll call ‘Bio-Inc.’

“It was a tiny start-up at the time, but today that company has over $2 billion in annual revenue.

“You’ll be interested to know that Bio-Inc’s stock is up more than 7,547% since Dr. Allen founded it.”

Sounds intriguing, no? Any more little details that we can feed into the Thinkolator? Perhaps just a few …

“… only a $1.3 billion market cap …

“It owns nearly all the patents related to RNA Interference… over 700 granted patents worldwide for RNA Interference. In total, it has over 300 granted or issued patents in the world’s major pharmaceutical markets – the United States, E.U., Japan… No other company comes this close to completely controlling this technology….

…it’s arranging 30 licensing deals with pharmaceutical and biotech companies right now. And even more deals are expected soon….

“Dr. Allen’s latest company has an advisory board made up of scientists from Harvard Medical School, MIT, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. In just three months, this company will announce incredible medical results, which could shoot its stock to the moon.”

OK … so that’s the pitch on the company — how are they going to make us rich? We’re told that there’s a catalyst coming soon — results from one of their trials:

“Dr. Allen’s company is on the verge of announcing incredible results from a Food and Drug Administration study about its top RNA Interference medicine.

“This study, conducted with the Boston University School of Medicine, will be shocking even to most doctors.

“We know. We’ve seen the earlier FDA reports for ourselves.

“The results of this announcement should lead to immediate Phase 3 approval from the Food and Drug Administration. Meaning…

“The first RNA Interference treatment of its kind will soon be commercially available in the U.S.”

“… laser-focused on a treatment for a rare ‘orphan’ disease. By taking this unusual route to get this medicine on the market, the company cut down the final approval time for its RNA medicine to as fast as 12 months.

“Specifically, Dr. Allen’s team is going after a terrible, genetic disease that more than 40,000 people are diagnosed with each year. Most die from it within three years.

“At this point, Dr. Allen’s company is winding down its Phase 2 trials treating this ‘orphan’ disease… based on early reports we’ve seen, after a single dose of this RNA medicine, patients had a 94% reduction of the protein causing this genetic disease. In other words, most of the problems were “turned off” after a single treatment. In addition, side effects were non-existent… we fully expect this treatment will almost certainly pass into final Phase 3 testing in the next three months. And when the company announces this next stage of approval, this event alone could be worth millions in profits.

“The door will be wide open for brand new medicines developed by Dr. Allen and his scientists. In fact, they’re working on five new treatments as we speak….”

So who is being teased by the Oxford Club folks here? Thinkolator sez it’s Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY), which was actually one of the top teaser touts of 2012 after the folks at Casey Extraordinary Technology teased it back in May of last year at about $10 a share (it went to $18 or so at the end of the year, and recent strength has driven it to $30).

I think you probably all know well that I’m no doctor, and no scientific expert, but Alnylam Pharmaceuticals is a very active developer of early stage drugs that use RNA interference or RNAi technology — they’re not the only ones, there are other competing platforms and strategies that also aim to lasso the “turn off a gene” power of tinkering with RNA, including the one that’s probably a bit more well-known, Isis Pharmaceuticals (ISIS). And yes, ALNY is headquartered in Cambridge, not far from MIT, and the big brain on the board is Nobel-winning RNA-splicer (and MIT faculty member) Dr. Phillip A. Sharp — the A is for Allen, in case you’re wondering where the “Dr. Allen” bit came from.

They are also expecting Phase II data from their lead trial sometime this Summer, that’s the trial for their “orphan drug” to treat TTR Amyloidosis (the drug is called ALN-TTR02 at this point), and they do see this moving into a Phase III pivotal trial by the end of the year (assuming, of course, that good results continue). This is an exceedingly rare and terrible disease with no effective therapies, so the treatment would have to be pretty bad to not at least get the drug a fighting chance. You can see the rest of the pipeline here, the goal of the company is to advance at least five compounds into advanced stage clinical trials by 2015 (they call it their “5 in 15” campaign), which would presumably help to validate their RNAi platform and patents and technology and get other partners on board to work on other diseases.

The company has had a pretty steady drumbeat of positive-sounding announcements during the first half of this year, which has helped to spur the shares higher, and the last note I saw in their quarterly annoucements said they expect their Phase II TTR02 results by the end of June, so that’s awfully dang close to now … along with a “data rich” period of expected information being released about their preclinical and less-advanced products over the next few months. They’ve also been making the rounds of investment conferences recently, so you can check out some of those presentations here if you’re interested in hearing their pitch more directly, or the latest earnings call transcript here. That said, they’ve had plenty of periods of weaker news as well — they had a different Phase II trial fail a bit over a year ago, so these are not guaranteed compounds.

Financially, ALNY’s stock price can really only be justified because it’s a biotech stock that investors believe is creating a platform that will lead to a series of novel drugs inching closer to the market over the next several years. Their revenue is minuscule for a company that has a market cap now of almost $2 billion, and they have a couple hundred million in cash on hand but that’s only because they issued new stock this year to raise cash — they will be using all of that cash and more as their clinical development programs move forward, trials are expensive and they get more expensive as you move along to later stages (though their lead candidate, with a very small number of afflicted patients and orphan status to speed things up, may not cost as much to usher through the process as the average drug). The stock trades on sentiment about their clinical trials, and about speculation about what a real platform for RNAi drugs might mean — which almost means the share price is irrelevant, you can argue that the company is worth $500 million or $1 billion or $5 billion or whatever number in between, but it’s all based on the current drugs, all in early stages except for their lead orphan drug, continuing to show the promise of RNA. Massive returns from here, as have been achieved by a few biotechs that made the leap to becoming real “big pharma” names with real products and profits, are possible, I suppose, but that depends on the science working. And probably on a bit of luck, as well.

Oh, and yes, “Dr. Allen” was involved with one of those previous mega-successes — the stock they tease as “Bio-Inc” is Biogen-Idec (BIIB), and Dr. Sharp was the founder of Biogen. If performance like Biogen’s is the goal — and that would be a lofty goal, indeed — then it’s worth noting that even this clearly spectacular company has had some very weak periods of stock performance, so investors would have had to show either great prescience or great patience to enjoy all of that run. BIIB has been a huge success since 2000, running from $50 to almost $250 in just a couple years, and it was also hugely successful in the 1990s, running from a couple dollars in 1990 to almost $50 in 2000 … but it also had a “lost decade” there in the middle, bouncing from $35 to $70 and back again several times in the 2000s as their lead drugs showed promise and disappointment along the way.

ALNY last had a heyday for investors in the mid-2000s when their first compound were being readied for the clinic, and RNAi and SiRNA and other technologies and techniques to silence genes were just getting investors excited for really the first time. RNAi and the like have been very promising but very challenging develop for at least a decade now — that oft-cited quote that was in the ad that this is “The Greatest Medical Advance Since the Discovery of Antibiotics,” from an article in New Scientist, was published in 2005, when the first clinical trials for RNAi drugs seemed likely … it always takes longer than you think, and the FDA is always extra-worried about brand new treatments or technologies.

From what I can tell in the dumbed-down articles I’ve skimmed, the biggest issue with RNAi is how to delivery it to the right cells, a challenge that is being addressed in many different ways (intravenous, subcutaneous, oral compounds with engineered coatings, etc.).

Anything else I say about the technology or the company’s drugs in development will only further illustrate my ignorance … so I can tell you that the Oxford folks are almost certainly teasing Alnylam, but I don’t know what the news will be from their Phase II trial in the weeks (or days) ahead, how the other compounds in their “five in 15” campaign will develop, what partnered drugs might bring in milestones in the years to come, or how strong their patent portfolio is. This is a very young science still, at least when it comes to actually developing drugs, so I can easily see a successful drug approval in a couple years, if it does indeed come, being hugely important even if this first orphan drug won’t be itself a big enough seller to “make” the company.

If you’ve been an ALNY investor or follow the stock, or just paid more attention in science class than I did, feel free to jump in and let us know what you think of this one.

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Steve
Steve
June 27, 2013 5:28 pm

Way to go Travis! Thank you.

richard schlinder
Guest
June 29, 2014 12:13 pm
Reply to  Steve

P/E is ——$5.20. I’ll need some of their life extending drug before this company starts making money. Reaction from Motly,Jacks and The Street are HOO Humm.

misterht01
misterht01
June 27, 2013 5:48 pm

I hope these news letter people don’t come after Travis for raining on their parade. Thanks and stay well.

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Karen R.
June 27, 2013 5:48 pm

Is this another Biozoom? But I guess at $30 a share it sounds more legitimate. Biozoom was being touted with a media blitz. Now the SEC has suspended trading.

Sally G
Guest
Sally G
August 8, 2013 7:11 pm
Reply to  Karen R.

Remember Sequenom (SQNM)? It seemed legit at $25, too, but after information about —I forget whether it was fraud, manipulation of price, or what—it dropped to about $5, and is hovering there or even lower. Be very careful with this sort of innovative science stock; it is easy to get above one’s understanding in science (and for me, in finance as well). I have tried a biotech a few times; makes me nervous (my results overall have been slightly negative).

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Michael Willis
Guest
Michael Willis
June 27, 2013 5:49 pm

The prospect of extending human longevity has been one of the primary goals of medical science. For a look into that science and what the possibilities are I’d recommend reading a book entitled “Ending Aging” by Dr. Aubrey de Grey.

There’s certainly money to be made in this field. The possibilities are tantalizing but the social implications are staggering and the potential for misuse and abuse enormous. The most sinister aspect of extending human life might well be the stagnation of scientific discovery when humanity needs it most. While Dr. de Grey quotes Max Planck’s “Science advances one funeral at a time” on multiple occasions I think he really misses the larger picture. We need to think carefully before rushing to embrace these new technologies.

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katherine
katherine
June 27, 2013 6:59 pm
Reply to  Michael Willis

Let me know when they figure a cure for a more common ailment like osteoporosis. Sometimes it seems to me that when single gene mutations and their associated diseases are the target of research, the rest of the world is still left waiting. I was an investor in Biogen during the late 1990’s and lost a bunch of money. It is true that a long term view might be the only good philosophy here and if we live to 150 we might see a profit!

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Dave C
Guest
Dave C
July 29, 2013 7:59 pm
Reply to  katherine

Social security started collecting on 8/14/1935. The wh*res in the federal government started confiscating (borrowing) and spending every single surplus dollar collected as part of their annual spending sprees. The feds have given us – literally – a box of worthless IOU’s for every dollar they scumbags have borrowed and spent. in 2009 money collected into the social security fund for the first time fell short of the payout obligations. So, this drug won’t bust social security, it has been busted since 1940. There is nothing left but a box of paper IOU’s and whatever money is collected from working American paychecks. All of which already doesn’t come close to meeting the demand of the baby boomers which will continue to retire for the next 20 years. Social Security is a joke. A flat busted joke – ALREADY.

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Gummyfish
Member
Gummyfish
August 8, 2013 1:25 pm
Reply to  Dave C

Dave, I was wondering if you are currently on Social Security. I am retired and receiving checks monthly. It does not seem as broke as you think. I expect the payments to be cut at some time but the same happens to some dividend paying stocks I have bought. When profits get better they tend to raise the dividend again.
Life is full of fluctuations, ebb and flow. The government guarantees repayment of the funds borrowed. I have to expect politicians to keep the money flowing or older voters will ensure they are out of office.
Optimistic in California!

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Jeff
Irregular
Jeff
August 8, 2013 2:11 pm
Reply to  Gummyfish

Your SS benefits can be stopped at any time by Gov’t. decree. This was decided by the Supreme Court in “Fleming v. Nestor”, February, 1962. The gist of it is that there is NO contractual obligation by the Gov’t. to return monies paid into the SS system and as such the system is nothing more than a “scheduled benefits” program provided by the government. Now, in my personal opinion, I fully expect to get shafted by the Gov’t. eventually so I am taking what I can get back as soon as I’m elligible (1/14) and ride it out as long as possible before the fiat currency system self-destructs.

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Myron Martin
Irregular
December 4, 2013 2:36 pm
Reply to  Gummyfish

You label yourself as “optimistic” and yet are naive enough to believe that politicians will keep their promises. You state ” government guarantees repayment of the funds borrowed’ well, how is that working for your? They have only managed to rack up $17. TRILLION in debt that can never be repaid in sound money! The only way they can even begin to meet the total obligations they have amassed is by continuing to do what they have always done, DEBASE the currency. If you are prepared to accept 2c in purchasing power for each dollar you possess, then indeed there is reason to be optimistic.

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robert somerlott
Member
robert somerlott
January 2, 2014 9:57 am
Reply to  Gummyfish

Yes Mr Fisher, I believe you are correct. My feeling on ssi are that it was to secure society as we know it. I also believe that if the cap was taken off it would be even more secure, for it is when you get to the cap of your income that is when you certainly can afford the payment. I believe you should pay on ALL of your income, not just the first 125000 or what ever the cap is, for it will be when society is no longer secure it could be a scare for those at the top, when people are hungry even the best people will turn angry, form mobs , rob, steal and even kill for the things they need to survive. Don’t worry, we would never do that, WOULD WE?

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Sally G
Guest
Sally G
January 3, 2014 10:09 am
Reply to  Gummyfish

Mr. Sommerlot, you are 100% correct. Time for the 1% to pay their fair share, just like everyone else. It is indeed in their long-term (think multigenerational) interest.

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Mike
Guest
December 2, 2014 11:22 am
Reply to  Gummyfish

Dwight, I was just wondering how you missed the “wise” phase that most experience while growing older? Let me help to get you caught up & enlightened from your false Californian utopia. I’m glad that you’re receiving SS benefits from the money that I work hard to earn. As previously stated, the money that you paid in is gone. Just like the gold in Fort Knox, it’s been depleted for a more important agenda. Social security is just one of a multitude of reasons the printing presses are constantly running at redline and the deficit continues to rack up at a rate of 10K per second. Rest assured, if the working class of America hypothetically stopped paying in to SS, you would be dipping into your savings. SS would be the last in line for bailout consideration. And if you believe that the true chosen ones really give a damn about your vote, I have a jug of water from the fountain of youth to sell you. Wake up, seek the truth and help to educate.

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Sally G
Guest
Sally G
December 2, 2013 11:17 pm
Reply to  Dave C

Remember Bush’s attempt to invest Social Security dollars in the stock market—just before 2008? We dodged a bullet that time!

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bluesharpbob
February 10, 2014 2:42 pm
Reply to  Sally G

John McCain was actually touting the investing of SS funds into the market right up until the moment of the big market collapse! Interesting how short people’s memories are. And yes, lifting the cap on earnings would “fix” SS for years to come. Bernie Sanders is one of the few in Washington with real solutions for this so-called SS “crisis”

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Alan Harris
Guest
Alan Harris
December 4, 2013 4:26 pm
Reply to  Dave C

Ive said this elsewhere. Do the simple calc for yourself: If you take the cost of your home (at purchase date) and stuffed the same amount of $ under your mattress or bought gold to the same value (on that same day)…. which would be worth more today? Id still have 180k of moth eaten $ under my mattress…..but my same house would now cost $450k ……is that a gain of $270k for the house or a loss of 270k worth of purchasing power for my 180k $’s ? But my gold would now be worth $1.25 million. Is that a gain for gold, or a loss for house value or a major loss for the $? It looks a lot like the same chunk of gold….a lot like the same roof and land plot….and exactly the same number of $ bills.

Is a $ as good as gold or is property as safe as houses? Im no gold bug but I cant fudge the arithmetic.

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Sally G
Guest
Sally G
January 3, 2014 9:51 am
Reply to  Dave C

Remember before the 2008 bust when they were talking about investing Social Security funds in the stock market? We surely dodged a bullet that time! And I seem to remember a photo of —Pres. Bush?—at a filing cabinet, pointing out how there was nothing but empty paper in Social Security. Can’t recall the details, but glad that cooler heads prevailed.

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deanbob
deanbob
February 10, 2014 3:29 pm
Reply to  Sally G

How much would every dollar invested in 2008 be worth today?

Dave
Dave
June 27, 2013 11:48 pm
Reply to  Michael Willis

No kidding. The Social Security system is already on very thin ice. Just getting rid of heart disease and thus extending millions of lives a few years (let alone 900, which is plainly absurd) would probably bust it completely.

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tim z
Member
February 10, 2014 7:57 pm
Reply to  Dave

Gett SS while it is still here, they give it to most every one now !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MetaCynic
Guest
MetaCynic
April 6, 2014 3:11 pm
Reply to  Dave

The point of fountain of youth technology which dramatically extends life expectancy while reversing old age and its sicknesses is to allow humans to remain youthful and disease free for many centuries. In that case there would be no need for either retirement or for the bulk of intensive medical care. Since there would no longer be nonproductive and sickly old people, Social security and Medicare would both become obsolete. The money spent on dealing with old age would remain in the pockets of perpetually young and healthy workers. What’s wrong with that?

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Alan Harris
Guest
Alan Harris
April 6, 2014 9:00 pm
Reply to  MetaCynic

Have you ever heard of waiting in dead mans shoes????

rick
Member
rick
December 10, 2014 9:43 pm
Reply to  Alan Harris

no, i haven’t. what does it mean?

BJ Honeycutt
Guest
BJ Honeycutt
September 12, 2014 12:57 am
Reply to  MetaCynic

The scientists mentioned appear to focus on the imperfect replication of cells as the supposed cause of aging. My experience leads me to believe lifestyle choices are a far bigger contributor to “aging”. Overeating low-nutrition foods, excessive alcohol consumption, smoking, sedentary habits, sleep deprivation–there is a long list of factors that affect our health and longevity besides the mechanics of cell division.

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Robert
Guest
April 24, 2015 2:04 am
Reply to  BJ Honeycutt

Health is produced through healthful living! However to completely discount ones genetic predisposition as a potentially contributing factor to some individuals developing certain disease processes and possible situations which may very well lead to other disruptive states which may very well be quite difficult to effectively treat medicinally or otherwise.

Sally G
Guest
Sally G
August 8, 2013 7:12 pm
Reply to  Michael Willis

agreed; with great potential comes great danger

bernard garner
Member
bernard garner
February 10, 2014 6:58 pm
Reply to  Michael Willis

I think Ray Kurzweil has the right idea when he talks about “escape velocity”. Lifespan has been getting longer for generations and technology will soon get us to the point where it is being extended more than a year per year. If we can manage to keep ourselves in good shape we might still be around when this point is reached possibly in another fifteen years.

wa1den
Guest
wa1den
March 5, 2014 7:47 pm
Reply to  Michael Willis

I disagree that there is anything “sinister” at all in increasing human longevity. There would certainly be some social challenges, and much that would have to be re-thought, and re-adujsted (like my social security benefits, for example), but I don’t see anything sinsister. I’d call it GROWING PAINS!!! We might eventually need to colonize beyond “planet earth” also, perhaps. I say hugely incleased longevity would be a really BIG positive, and not be sinister nor bad for humanity.

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MetaCynic
Guest
MetaCynic
April 6, 2014 3:15 pm
Reply to  wa1den

I agree that life extension technology would be hugely beneficial to humans , especially for those whose life expectancy is dramatically extended. Think of all the skills, wisdom and knowledge which would no longer disappear with the death of each of us.

Walt
Irregular
Walt
June 27, 2013 6:25 pm

These teasers are absurd.
Is this ALNY, and will it make money? Probably and possibly.
But is there a long-term market for this? Take it from someone who is very old, and who has 2 physical therapists in the family – by your late 90s, everything quits working, especially most muscle groups. Live to 200 years old? Theoretically possible. But really – who wants to spend 100 years in bed??
Great service Travis, keep up the good work.

Just another Thought!
Guest
Just another Thought!
June 27, 2013 7:21 pm

Fantastic as this RNA article may sound, I actually think it has a ring of truth to it. It’s hinted at in the following biblical phrase which may suggests that people will experience increased longevity near the end (Matt 24:1-34). However, this medical “meddling” may come at a price — the appearance of previously unknown diseases. Please see Rev 16:2.
I’m excited by the possibility of this medical breakthrough, but I wonder.
Regards

Bruce
Bruce
July 3, 2013 12:34 am

To what Biblical phrase do you refer? I see nothing in Matt 24:1-34 that hints at increased longevity.

Jerry
Guest
Jerry
March 21, 2014 11:01 am
Reply to  Bruce

Hey how about Matt 24: 44-47? Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh….Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. There is a good start. Those that are ready for the second coming of Jesus will
rule with jesus in the 1000 year reign of Christ! Of course “so shall we ever be with the Lord.” (1Thess. 4:17) Jesus the great physician promises new bodies (2Cor.5:1,2) to all that give him a call: Call (777) ROM-10:13 “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Office hours are 24/7.

baygreen
June 27, 2013 9:45 pm

Caution is always a phase two but now we are taking about a lividend. The sweet smell of lobby power and Casey at the bat makes me wonder should I put a limit order in and reinvest till I am 1001 plus my time here now. Will certainly mess up the birthday notices on someones FB page. Travis you with out a doubt are really good and I get more value of this service all the time , I play some leaps on the options side but this will really throw off the CBOE. Just kidding thanks for the truthful input.

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mike sanders
mike sanders
June 27, 2013 11:47 pm

Hi Travis
Just wanted to say how much I enjoy your column, if only more analysts were as objective and honest as you then we as investors would have a lot easier time.
Thank you
Mike Sanders
Hong Kong

johnny white
Guest
johnny white
June 28, 2013 9:45 am

It seems like a pipe dream, when the most common diseases, from chronic annoyances to fatal predators, have not been brawt even close to “cured”. “Aging” cannot be “cured”, nor stopped.

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Alan Harris
Guest
Alan Harris
June 28, 2013 12:30 pm

Im already writing my online dating profile ‘ Youngish (550yrs) man looking for a 450yr old toy girl……. GSH’ 😉

Sally G
Guest
Sally G
August 8, 2013 7:13 pm
Reply to  Alan Harris

LOL! good comment!

panchovia
Guest
panchovia
June 28, 2013 1:05 pm

What will the Anna Nicole Smith’s of the future do when their spouse lives forever?

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conrad
June 29, 2013 5:25 pm

The world is already overpopuated and stressing it’s resources.
We are also automating more & more requiring less people. Robotic & Large equipment has replaced manual labor like in highway, real estate, construction, factories, textiles, plastics, mining, and even the computer and cell phones have displaced many. Grocery and department stores can now have cashiers that dont have to know any thing except pass the item by the scanner, place in bag and say thank you!

Farms have huge tractors controlled by GPS that can till, plant, pick, bag or package etc.
Oceans are already over harvested, and developers are building on flat agricultural land instead of hilly jnon agricultural areas.

What about water availability?

I dont think that living so long is a good idea. The tax man thinks that then you will be taxed forever!

Things will progress so fast that the survivors of product profitability will be few.
Con

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deanbob
deanbob
February 10, 2014 3:32 pm
Reply to  conrad

I have been hearing the same concerns for almost 40 years, inspite of the population growth.

defilor
Member
defilor
February 24, 2014 5:43 am
Reply to  deanbob

…and you haven’t noticed any changes in -say- the food you eat in the last 40 years? Your corn, your wheat, your rice, your meat, your milk? Nothing like it was 40 years ago. We are utilizing near 100% of the surface fit for agriculture, 87% of all fish are dramatically overfished. There are 840mil of people that don’t have enough to eat every day. That of course doesn’t apply to your nearest Walmart, filled with fresh fruit and vegetables (despite them being out of season) and the highly subsidized farm products. We can’t feed everyone already, the global population growth is happening exponentially every day, and it will only make the situation way worse if people live twice as long, let alone 1000 years. Simple comparison. Imagine all cars would get 4 mpg instead of 40 all of a sudden. Get informed, man. It’s at the tip of your fingers, just stop ignoring it and you will be surprised. Promise.

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wa1den
Guest
wa1den
March 5, 2014 7:59 pm
Reply to  defilor

I disagree that having people live extremely long is a negative, or guaranteed to cause insoluble problems. Would there be issues? Yes, of course. Growing pains. Folks who take the posture that you espouse assume we are forever limited to this planet, and to current technology and resources. Those are naive assumptions. It’s a BIG universe out there, and we are barely getting started.

MetaCynic
Guest
MetaCynic
April 6, 2014 3:24 pm
Reply to  defilor

For the most part, humans have children in order to be taken care of in their old age. If there will no longer be old age, a major reason for having children will disappear. Therefore fountain of youth technology might result in a reversal of the global human population as lives are lost to accidents, wars and suicide faster than new children are born.

Alan Harris
Guest
Alan Harris
April 6, 2014 5:40 pm
Reply to  MetaCynic

I disagree on many fronts. Humans have children coz thats what we are programmed to do….however, we may have conscious reasons also. But that’s the fundamental. So, children will still be born even if we live to 999. Losses due to accidents, wars and suicide diminish every year. The consequence will be over population and a scarcity of resources. What happens beyond, is beyond my imagining.

BJ Honeycutt
Guest
BJ Honeycutt
September 12, 2014 1:08 am
Reply to  MetaCynic

Actually, some of us are not so selfish as to have children “to take care of us in our old age.” As Kahlil Gibran says in The Prophet, “Your children are life longing for itself.” We have children because they are beautiful beings, and we want to love them. Any other motivation for having children (such as passing on the family name) is unworthy of the souls who enter the earth through us.

Sally G
Guest
Sally G
September 12, 2014 12:18 pm
Reply to  MetaCynic

Bravo, Alan!

Sally G
Guest
Sally G
September 12, 2014 12:19 pm
Reply to  MetaCynic

Oops, that was supposed to be Bravo, BJ! But I cannot edit or delete. 🙁

Ju
Ju
June 29, 2013 6:46 pm

Death is God’s way of controlling the Humans and Animals till the end of earth which in my eyes is getting nearer.

Alan Harris
Guest
Alan Harris
June 30, 2013 5:50 am
Reply to  Ju

Erm ?… it could hardly be getting further away !

sheila225
sheila225
June 30, 2013 1:38 am

The Phase II study results for ALN-TTR02 (which is expected to be announced Peripheral Nerve Society Meeting in France on June 30, 2013.) uses a cutting edge technology known as “lipid nanoparticle” (LNP), and the excitement is around this technology which it licensed from Tekmira (NASDAQ: TKMR, TSX: TKM).

Dr Sharp is the leading expert of RNAi – but the LNP “Catalyst” is viewed as the key enabler for using his approach. If the hype is proven (expected results) – the”shock” may be evidence of an accurate control mechanism for targeting RNAi – which has been the technical stumbling block with earlier efforts. Stay tuned.

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brenton
Member
brenton
July 1, 2013 11:56 am

Not to rain on the parade any more but the whole paragraph in the fool’s description of the science is wrong. Completely wrong:
“RNA is a messenger, copying genes from an old cell to a new cell. But what happens when RNA starts transmitting imperfections to the new cells? The answer is what we call aging… when these imperfections add up, and our body starts breaking down.”
False. RNA is transcribed to make proteins, it has NO involvement in cell division. DNA, which is copied to RNA, is the genetic material used in cell division. There is no RNA intermediate and RNA has no involvement in transmitting any genetic information to the new cell. DNA is copied directly to new DNA and the 2 copies are divided into the 2 cells.

RNAi is a great young technology and I see it having a major role in medicine moving forward, I see their target timeframes as being very ambitious however. IMHO they are a gamble, but sometimes gambles can pay off.

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alexm28
Member
alexm28
July 12, 2013 11:23 am
Reply to  brenton

ALNY was going up last two trading sesions from 38+ to 49+ at 10 am CST FR 7/12’13 .I own the stock.

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alexm28
Member
alexm28
July 15, 2013 9:10 pm
Reply to  alexm28

I bought ALNEY again MO 7/15 after it started moving up and sold AUG 50 Calls for $3.50. Still trying discover company manufacturing Touch Screens using copper substitute for Indium
.

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RICHARD
Guest
RICHARD
July 16, 2013 11:56 am

ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE, HOWEVER IT SOUNDS LIKE SNAKE OIL SALESMANSHIP TO ME

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Dick
Guest
Dick
August 8, 2013 8:09 pm
Reply to  RICHARD

We are supposedly close to be living for 150 years but they still can’t grow my hair back.
Go figure…

Philip
Guest
Philip
July 27, 2013 9:07 am

What if they really succeed? So we live to be hundreds of years old – but who will support us with Social Security going broke, and unemployment rising? We can’t take care of the people we already have, dying by 90!

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Abe
Member
Abe
July 23, 2014 2:06 pm
Reply to  Philip

If they succeed that mortgage payment and those credit cards you are paying the minimum will get paid off, if you work till 200 or 300 years old. Social security retirement age may be 300?

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slow
Member
slow
August 5, 2013 2:54 pm

If there is even a whiff of good news at trials, ALNY will rocket up… and it’s doing pretty well right now!
Viagra’s rise (ahem…) was a surprise, I wish I’d have bought in sooner… but this stuff, which is designed and no accident, will be astonishing if it works even half as well as they hope. It does seem feasible.

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Stephen
Member
Stephen
August 8, 2013 10:51 am

Cancel my life insurance policy i won’t need it any longer

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Gregg G
Gregg G
August 8, 2013 11:21 am

This may put the Soylent Green makers out of business..

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