With Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX) announcing on June 21 that its therapy VX-880 helped nearly all of the patients with diabetes in a clinical trial to reduce or eliminate their need for other treatments, it's natural for investors to assume that Novo Nordisk's (NYSE: NVO) blockbuster drug Ozempic might have another competitor on the horizon.

If that were the case, making a timely investment in Vertex stock might prove to be a great decision in a few years' time. Let's unpack what's going on and then make a judgment about whether to invest or not.

Vertex's VX-880 program is in phase 1/2 clinical trials, and it's a cell therapy intended for use in people with type 1 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is an illness caused in part by autoimmune dysfunction that leads to reduced efficiency and premature death of islet cells, which are responsible for producing insulin to regulate a person's blood sugar.

Continue reading

Source Fool.com