Vertex will have an interesting 2020

Vertex Pharmaceuticals just beat Wall Street’s quarterly sales estimates and is on pace to turn its franchise of cystic fibrosis medicines into a $10 billion enterprise. But nothing lasts forever, and so investors have begun to ask: What will Vertex look like after its CF business has peaked?

We’ll start to get some answers next year. In 2020, the world will see mid-stage data on VX-814, a treatment for the rare lung disease AAT deficiency, and early results on VX-147, meant to treat a rare kidney disease abbreviated FSGS. Next year could also bring initial results from Vertex’s genome editing therapy for sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia, and 2020 could finally be the year Vertex decides which of its in-development pain treatments will advance to late-stage trials.

Vertex has spent the last few years keeping its promises in CF and maintaining irons in the fire for the future. A year from now, under new CEO Reshma Kewalramani, the company will start to learn which might actually pan out.