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“Immortality Switch” — What’s Kramer’s “$6 Anti-Aging Stock?”

GameChangers teaser says "My research shows each share of this $6 stock will get you $100."

By Travis Johnson, Stock Gumshoe, November 18, 2019

For some reason, the investment newsletter audience (and their publishers) find “anti-aging” pitches quite appealing… maybe it’s because so many of us are reaching those “golden years” and wondering how to extend them without pain or poverty. I’m not quite in the “core” demographic yet at 49, but I’ve got the knees and hips of a 75-year-old… so I feel like I can sympathize a little bit.

The pitch this time from Hilary Kramer, in an ad for her GameChangers newsletter, is that there’s a $6 “anti-aging” stock that’s about to soar to $100 a share… and that news coming soon will start that big run.

We know, of course, that newsletter ad copywriters like to dramatically over-emphasize the near-term catalyst a stock might have — after all, their one goal is to get you to subscribe NOW, they know that if they give you any breathing room or tell you that the big news won’t be coming for a few months, there’s much less likelihood that you’ll pull out your credit card. And, of course, time and thought are the enemies of the impulse newsletter purchase.

So we’ll check out Kramer’s clues, let you know what stock she’s teasing so we can defuse that “gotta subscribe NOW” urge a bit, and then you can think for yourself… deal?

Here’s the lead-in for the email that I saw over the weekend:

“A group of West Coast scientists have created the impossible. This miracle drug is being called the Immortality Switch, because it actually reverses age-related diseases.

“According to the Mayo Clinic, the Immortality Switch shows ‘very promising results…’

“And CNBC recently alerted investors it helps ‘stop or reverse age-related diseases.'”

Sounds pretty impressive, right? The Mayo Clinic is a big brand name, and CNBC is full of ratings-chasing clowns but still, people watch… so that’s a big deal if they’re “endorsing” this idea.

And we’ve got some other biggies on board as well, apparently… more from Kramer…

“… billionaires like Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, and Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal, are pouring their own personal fortunes into the biotech company creating the Immortality Switch.”

OK, so sure, Jeff Bezos and Peter Thiel are on top of the world, and would like to live forever. I get it. If I had billions of dollars I’d be throwing it at my favorite causes, too.

Apparently some other big investment “brand names” are also buying…

“Wall Street heavy hitters, Fidelity, Goldman Sachs, Vanguard, and BlackRock can barely contain themselves—anticipating the profit potential ahead from this $6 stock.”

Or maybe they’re not buying? I have no idea what “can barely contain themselves” means, which probably means it doesn’t mean anything… those words are just there to build up a sense of urgency.

And then we get to the really urgent stuff — what’s going to make this stock start to “soar?”

“In a matter of days, the Immortality Switch goes into Phase II testing with the FDA.

“Expect a sudden surge of profits with each press release. A technology of this magnitude could double… triple your money with ease with this low-priced stock.”

And they even close out with a strong “fear of missing out” (FOMO) pitch in the P.S….

“If you bought either Amazon, Apple, or Netflix when they were $6 a share… you know you only need to hit one home run investment for lifetime wealth. My research shows each share of this $6 stock will get you $100… putting you in the same ballpark.”

So is this your next chance? If you think back to 10 or 20 years ago and kick yourself for not buying one of those tech titans and holding on to reap your fortune, will this be your opportunity as some biotech goes into Phase 2 clinical trials.

Well, let’s see. First we need some Thinkolator results — and this time, actually, it’s quick and easy… this is once again a tease of Unity Biotechnology (UBX), which was similarly pitched by a different newsletter about a month ago as the “#1 Penny Stock of 2020”.

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So I’m going to lean on the comments I wrote last month about Unity, since things haven’t changed much, but let’s look and see what’s actually going on.

Unity Biotechnology is an interesting story — there’s a good in-depth piece here from Quartz that appeared two years ago, before Unity went public. This is a little excerpt:

“The company’s approach is deceptively simple: clearing the body of senescent cells, which are trapped in a state of purgatory between division and death—they’re still alive, but they’re not making new tissues. Cells in this mode are found throughout the body, and research has shown that they can congregate in areas that start to wear with aging, like the eyes and in joints. A recent paper in Science, coauthored by Unity founders Van Deursen and Judith Campisi of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, demonstrated that, in mice, senescent cells contribute to atherosclerosis, the buildup of plaque in the arteries.”

Unity went public during a happier market for biotech companies, in mid-2018, and is now trading at about $6.30 a share (it briefly got over $20 a share a little over a year ago, and has fallen about 10% in the past month since we covered it for that earlier Paradigm Press teaser).

That older tease was promising huge news on November 7, which was when they were supposed to report earnings — but there was essentially no chance that they would announce shocking results or a “cure for aging” on that day. How about now, with that latest earnings report under their belt?

Unity is actually in a fairly quiet period right now — we’ve seen their Phase 1 results from their first clinical trial for their first drug, UBX0101 for osteoarthritis, but we’ll probably have to wait quite a while before there’s any more meaningful drug development news.

And when it comes to the idea that “starting Phase II” will cause the stock to take off, that’s both a bizarre promise to make and, in this case, an outdated one — starting dosing of a drug in Phase 2 almost never means anything, it’s almost never a surprise that a reasonably successful Phase 1 leads to starting Phase 2. It’s not the beginning of that trial that means anything… it’s the data you get out of the trial later on.

But, to add on to the silliness of the Kramer promise here, they also initiated Phase 2 back in October and the first dosing of a patient in their Phase 2 study of UBX0101 was announced on Halloween — by the time we saw this ad, the “start of Phase 2” that was supposed to be a massive catalyst was already a couple weeks in the rearview mirror. And, naturally, had no real impact on the stock price.

Those first results for their knee osteoarthritis treatment in Phase 1 were, at least from my perspective, pretty unimpressive — Phase 1 is mostly designed to make sure a drug is safe enough to try on a broader group of patients, but they also want to see if it is effective… and for many of the indications, the placebo did as well or nearly as well in reducing pain in osteoarthritis sufferers. The press release headline was that “topline results demonstrate a dose-dependent and clinically meaningful impact on pain,” and that they showed enough progress to plan for Phase 2, but it certainly wasn’t a “wow, this is amazing!” result.

And that disappointing efficacy is reinforced, to some degree, by the fact that in addition to moving on to Phase 2 with UBX0101, they’re also taking a step back and doing a second Phase 1 study (they call it “1b”) — incorporating both a higher dose and repeat doses to see if those are safe and tolerable enough to move forward with a more assertive application of the drug, in hopes that it will work better.

The company’s goal is to extend the “health span” of humans, dealing with some diseases and conditions that significantly impact the joy of living like osteoarthritis and macular degeneration, and this first clinical trial is important in that the drug at least seemed safe and well-tolerated. Whether things improve from here, I have no idea — but it will presumably be a while before we know anything more, they have said that they expect results from both this Phase 2 and the Phase 1B in the second half of 2020… so unless there’s some shockingly good result that they feel the need to announce before the study is complete, it will be probably close to a year before we get any big news — and even if things are shocking and they do come out with something early, it’s hard to imagine that happening before three or four months have passed to at least get most of the patients recruited and dosed.

And there isn’t really anything else that seems likely to move the needle right away. The next wave of research they do will be in Ophthalmology, where they have identified their first clinical candidates, UBX1967 and UBX1325 — but they haven’t even filed an IND for those yet (that’s an Investigational New Drug application — basically, sharing their toxicology results and other background info, including stuff about the manufacturing of the compound, outlining the clinical trial protocols they intend to follow, and requesting approval to test the drug in humans)… so we won’t be seeing any actual clinical trial results from those drugs in the next few months, either. They expect to file the IND early next year.

As of the latest earnings update, UBX expects to have about $110 million in cash to fuel their R&D programs at the end of 2019, so they should be OK for a little while — even with a Phase 2 trial underway which should increase their costs, that would be enough to get them at least a quarter into 2020, though in their earnings press release they went much further than that and said that their current balance sheet is sufficient to fund them into the second half of 2021 (that seems like a stretch — so far this year, they’ve been burning through almost $20 million in cash per quarter, and I’ve never seen a biotech company spend less on Phase 2 than they did on Phase 1… but I assume they know their expected costs, and maybe they’ll be more conservative in their spending than the average biotech startup).

Like any early-stage biotech, they will probably use any moments of investor optimism to raise more money — I would have told you last month that they’ll need to raise funds before they have Phase 2 results from their lead drug next year, but they’re now saying that’s not the case, so I guess their clinical trials must not be super expensive… and perhaps they can hold off on raising more money until after they get clinical results. Which poses an interesting question, too — if they go to raise more money before the results come out in the second half of next year, does that send a signal about the results being disappointing? That’s just a hypothetical to keep in mind.

So is Unity Biotechnology a good candidate for you? Only you can answer that, I’m afraid — the story is interesting, the science is widely admired, but results so far have been underwhelming and there won’t be real results for at least many months, so investors will have to be patient and weigh the odds of success for Unity’s approach before thinking about how much money to risk on this story.

I don’t like to dabble in early stage biotechs because I can be fairly sure that I’m buying shares from someone who understands the science a lot better than I do, and I don’t see any reason to expect a big “price catalyst” bit of news from Unity anytime in the next few months that might attract the biotech crowd, so this one isn’t for me… but they do have plenty of backers and some interesting-sounding science, so perhaps it will eventually become a big winner. You’ll have to make your call on where you see the probabilities falling for this one, and I hope you’ll share your thoughts with a comment below… thanks for reading!

Disclosure: Of the stocks mentioned above, I own long positions (through shares and/or call options) in Amazon and Apple. I will not trade in any covered stock for at least three days after publication, per Stock Gumshoe’s trading rules.

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Frank Rodriguez
Frank Rodriguez
November 18, 2019 3:51 pm

Hi Travis, Nice article as usual. I very much enjoy reading all your posts they are direct to the point and have saved me a lot of money. The only thing I would like to ask of you is if you can keep the fonts that you have in today’s article. Thank You Travis

bunion132
November 18, 2019 4:09 pm

Travis, in relation to your personal investing rule “I don’t like to dabble in early stage biotechs”, could you clarify what you consider as “early stage”? As a biotech ignoramus, I’m not sure how many phases drug development goes through and if FDA approval is required at each phase. In addition, is “clinical stage” the final phase for FDA approval before the drug enters mainstream marketability?

Never mind Hilary Kramer (not a fan), what’s prompting me to ask these questions is the crazy-high price surge that stock Karuna Therapeutics (KRTX) did today. Despite being “only” in Phase 2 trial of its drug for schizophrenia treatment, the stock skyrocketed more than 400% for just today! Does this mean that people get overly excited over Phase 2 trials showing a lot of promise, or is there an overwhelming number of schizo’s in the world needing treatment? Either way, how should such price surges be traded?

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ricky1981
Member
ricky1981
November 18, 2019 4:14 pm

Nice article. I really want to invest in this. I’m so close, but nervous. What they are trying to do is great, and if Jeff Bezos is in that sounds like a winner to me. I don’t know… I’m 50/50 on the fence.

jflynch
Member
jflynch
November 19, 2019 4:06 pm
Reply to  ricky1981

I’ve always been looking for the so called ‘Fountain of Youth’ but haven’t found it yet. Biotech’s can take along time to work out or not….all the Regs and hoops they have to jump thru. Bezos can afford to lose millions….can you? I have been into MJ stocks quite a bit….very slow moving…usually going down….slow path to recovery or break even point. Should have bought MSFT….

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alansd
Member
alansd
November 18, 2019 5:07 pm

nicotinamide riboside is the true youth restoring switch available to anyone, see Josh
mittledorf/scienceblog for the scoop/

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Joe Esty
Member
Joe Esty
November 18, 2019 5:45 pm
Reply to  alansd

Wrong, Al, it’s nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)

Daniel
Guest
November 23, 2019 6:34 pm
Reply to  Joe Esty

Hi Joe. I believe NR is the biological precursor to NAD, and since oral NAD supplementation is ineffective, NR is the best we can do. I take Elysium’s NR-based products myself. Hope that helps…

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jflynch
Member
jflynch
November 19, 2019 4:07 pm
Reply to  alansd

I’ve heard about NAD also….helped me long ago….not cheap either.

wfuiii
November 19, 2019 8:04 pm
Reply to  alansd

Thought I would add something to the discussion via a YouTube video I just watched with Dr. Phillip Lee Miller, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziwD3NMi7Ik. If Teleomere’s are important then you will most likely enjoy what he has to say.

I’m also a fan of Josh Mittledorf but never seem to have enough hours in the day to keep up. I will also add that the Silicon Valley Health Institute’s YouTube video’s are quite interesting as they host a lot of very accomplished speakers…. http://www.svhi.com.

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bcinnz
bcinnz
November 18, 2019 5:15 pm

Hi Travis, I am printing your discussion regarding this teaser. It is such an incredibly well-written piece incorporating so much common sense plus experience in dealing with stocks/shares/early start-ups. My sons will enjoy it and learn! Keep it up!

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Joe Esty
Member
Joe Esty
November 18, 2019 6:08 pm

110 years is the limit — hypothetical and real. You read of a scant few that putatively approached 120, but upon closer inspection, you find a pinched birth certificate of the mother or father. When they cure progeria, I’ll ponder the possibilities of eternity as a carbon-based form. Until they do that, 110 is the limit.

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Joe Esty
Member
Joe Esty
November 19, 2019 1:53 pm

Money — can’t buy me love…. or immortality.

Robert McLean
November 18, 2019 6:23 pm

The plethora of “biotech” wonders these publishing houses throw up is just staggering… I watched with great interest ResTorBio virtually become a penny stock overnight recently pretty much on the day its was supposed to save the world and create instant millionaires for anyone who had invested a penny….. enjoying the articles and investigation Travis….

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narr01
Irregular
narr01
November 18, 2019 11:07 pm

IMHO, Hilary Kramer is is not a serious investment letter writer but more like a spammer, and does not deserve to be dignified by getting an article in Stock Gumshoe. As they say, even a monkey throwing darts will do just as well as the index, but I really wonder if she could. Would be interesting to see the performance across her publications.

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bunion132
November 18, 2019 11:08 pm

Do these anti-aging drugs and therapeutics include reversal of incontinence? What for the promises of a wrinkle-free, straight-walking, high-energy centenarian-plus existence if the internal plumbing won’t be working right?

And do those billionaires and corporate honchos really want to be in better shape than, or even out-live, their grandchildren? (I’m paraphrasing the ultimate question raised in that 1980’s movie “Batteries not Included”. Remember that one?)

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alansd
Member
alansd
November 19, 2019 9:13 am

no matter how old you are you can suffer a failure in some part of your body, my health was always terrific, no flu,colds,bugs of any kind.Then out of the blue a stroke disabled me. No prior symptoms…..but an artery i the brain gave out.
So best thing to pre empt this would have been a real ct scan, but it was never advised to me, Only foolish cardiologists, told me to do stress tests, etc.

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ggswift
November 26, 2019 11:12 am
Reply to  alansd

Alan friend of mine had a stroke out of the blue , but his wife rushed him to the hospital , and today you can hardly tell he had a stroke.
Bottom line , live each day as if it were your last day , and one day you will be right!

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mah
Guest
mah
November 29, 2019 8:01 pm
Reply to  ggswift

My take is to “Live each day as if you have an infinite number of days ahead of you”, that way you will take better care of yourSelf and have no regrets. Each day is the beginning of a beautiful journey into the future.

lucie walters
lucie walters
September 1, 2020 7:50 pm
Reply to  mah

Great theme for living! Thx

Jeffrey
July 2, 2020 11:40 am
Reply to  alansd

I feel so badly that you got hit with a bolt from the blue with the moniker STROKE.
Before we Dis cardiologists for CAT SCANS watch the WidowMaker on Netflix or where ever it can be uploaded. When we read about especially men in their 40’s thru 60’s keeling over dead-nearly every time it is the Widow Maker.

What is it? It is a major blocked artery that shows right up on an MRI. Not even a CAT SCAN required to spot it.
I had to ask my doctor to do it. I had the Widow Maker. Unknown 90% blockage in my main artery to my heart.

He also found I have an aortic aneurysm meaning a nice bulge in my Aorta right next to the entrance into my heart. Not operable. But still reasonably small.
The result I had 2 stents put in and it was the easy surgery. Simple with no problems.
I asked him about both. Brain and Widowmaker. He said they should be required testing. They are not and the MRI took about 2 minutes standing in front of the machine. I was in and out in 10 minutes. The MRI saved my life. Guys get both.

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Jamie
Guest
Jamie
June 10, 2021 11:15 pm
Reply to  Jeffrey

I had the widow maker and it was 100% blocked and another one blocked at80%. Drove myself to the hospital with upper back pain,didn’t think at age 47 it would have been a heart attack and that extensive blocksage. #Double bypass survivor

Erik
Guest
Erik
November 19, 2019 12:34 pm

Great article again Travis, thanks for that. Are there any lists available you know of with some more info about the promising things happening in biotech? Or can you for example check trails at the web of the FDA ? I am from Europe and do not have a clue where to look for. I think OVID looks promising, but it’s difficult to find any info besides that from the company itself. Is clinicaltrials.gov od any help?
For the rest thank you for giving all this info and your way of thinking how to handle all this teasers. But there should be good ones as well, or not? What are your thoughts about the Motley Fool?

Keep on the good work.
Regards from Spain

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costume_lady
Member
May 26, 2020 3:04 pm
Reply to  Erik

Handle them by checking them out here. More solid info than in 10 teaser subscriptions!

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BJI
Member
BJI
November 19, 2019 7:40 pm

Just opened an email:
Urgent Medical Breakthrough: Tiny Company’s Clinical Studies Break the Laws of Human Nature, Seniors Rejoice!
“United States Patented ‘Cellular Extraction’ Breakthrough Reveals Long-Lost Fountain of Youth Secret”
One company and its prolific science-backed technology stands to unleash untold fortunes & health to investors, starting today.
A medical miracle extracting old-age and reversing your body back to a youthful-state.
https://pro.paradigm-press.info/p/TS1_AntiAging_0719/ETS1VBCD/?utm_source=message-central&utm_medium=email&utm_term=the-greatest-lie-in-history&utm_content=internal&utm_campaign=ts1-patented-breakthrough&a=13&o=156508&s=184243&u=7907246&l=2763348&r=MC2&vid=dJapNE&g=0&h=true

Is it UBX that’s talked about by Paradigm Press?

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cacudi
Irregular
cacudi
November 20, 2019 8:16 am

I think this is just the field of “Senolythic Therapies”, aiming at provoking the death of senescent cells. I personally use the “senolythic activator” from Life Extension. Just 2 pills a week necessary.

jadams95125
jadams95125
November 23, 2019 4:15 pm

Analyst Actions: Wedbush Downgrades ResTORbio to Neutral From Outperform, Cuts Price Target to $2 From $26

11/18/19, 4:00 AM
07:00 AM EST, 11/18/2019 (MT Newswires) —

Price: 1.2000, Change: +0.11, Percent Change: +10.09

http://www.mtnewswires.com Copyright © 2019 MT Newswires. All rights reserved. MT Newswires does not provide investment advice. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.
———
Price dropped from a high of $9.88 to a low of $0.94 in two days! Ouch!

domnettelecom
Member
domnettelecom
November 24, 2019 6:27 pm

Sorry for my bad english. There is a drug that my aunt developed back in Soviet times. She tested it on her friend, who is now about 90 years old, but she looks 50 years old and feels great. I know how to make this drug and can serve up to 100 people a day. One procedure costs 5 dollars. and preferably it is done every day or every other day. The treatment of the face, neck, chest, arms with this drug takes 5 minutes. I do not want to sell the drug. Come to Kharkov. Open a clinic and bring rich friends. I guarantee a young appearance for long years.
Best regards!
domnettelecom@gmai.com

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Lewis B
Lewis B
November 25, 2019 3:15 pm

Hi Travis,
Thank you for the article! I enjoyed reading it.
Regarding UBX, I would NOT buy it. I would recommend Gumshoe readers check two aspects before buying this stock.
First, the credential of Hilary Kramer. When did she make a decent call last time?
Second, the product of the company. If the drug is “being called the Immortality Switch, because it actually reverses age-related diseases”, I would worry about the future of the company. Aging is a natural process and the effort made by this company is anti-natural. It is a very complicated procedure to reverse an aging process, and I am not sure whether one or a few drugs can do it. You can check the current market to see how many companies are actually successful in selling anti-aging related drugs?

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ggswift
November 26, 2019 11:20 am
Reply to  Lewis B

Domnette in the above post says his aunt developed a “Youth” Drug which helps you to look younger. If I had the ability to manufacture that drug I would patent it and become a Billionaire!
I seriously doubt his aunt’s drug could be that effective!

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Sophia
Guest
Sophia
July 17, 2020 3:09 am

Thank you for this great information! “Immortality Switch”
Immortality & Science forum: https://bilimyurt.com
please accept thanks

Fool
Member
Fool
August 17, 2020 12:54 pm

So August 16th has come, Day Zero, the day the world changes, according to Jeff Siegel and Green Stock Chips.
The most exhilerating and profitable day in history.
UBX CMO Jamie Dananberg revealed their osteoarthritis drug showed “no statistically significant difference between any are of UBX0101 and placebo”.
Stock price dived 60%.
Most profitable day in history for Jeff maybe, but surely mud like this has to stick at some point? Not even close to a great call.

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Jane
Member
Jane
August 31, 2020 7:42 pm

Osteoarthritis is a major debilitator of older people. The only solution today is to go under the knife to have joints surgically replaced – expensive and requires months of rehabilitation. Having gone under the knife twice, with an impending #3, I would welcome anything that helps avoid knife #3. What specific promises does Unity Biotechnology ‘s nicotimide adamine diunecleotude drug claim to deliver on? I would love it if it could prevent my knife #3 or prevent knife #4 and would totally invest. What’s the prognosis?

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