Biotech giant Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX) is firing on all cylinders. The company has performed better than the broader market in the past year as its core cystic fibrosis (CF) franchise continues to march forward, and it is currently awaiting approval of exa-cel, a potential gene-editing therapy for sickle cell disease (SCD) and beta-thalassemia (TDT).

Exa-cel, which Vertex developed in collaboration with CRISPR Therapeutics, could generate well over $1 billion annually at its peak, and it will be the first non-CF product Vertex has launched in more than a decade. Naturally, this medicine is garnering a lot of attention. However, Vertex Pharmaceuticals is working on other programs that could be equally or even more promising than exa-cel. Let's take a look at some of them.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals made a fortune thanks to its CF franchise for two reasons. First, it developed medicines that address the underlying causes of the disease and not just some of its symptoms. Second, Vertex is the only company in the world so far that has successfully created CF therapies of this type, so it holds a monopoly in this market.

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Source Fool.com