Chronic pain readout lifts serial tier-jumper Vertex to new heights

A non-opioid pain readout pushed Vertex’s shares to an all-time high Wednesday, lifting its market cap above the $100 billion threshold as the big biotech continues to advance potential growth drivers that can sit atop its durable cystic fibrosis business.

It’s the latest step in the journey of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTX) as it continues to jump tiers. Once a sub-$5 billion biotech for most of the 2000s decade, Vertex crossed the $10 billion mark around the time of its first CF approval in 2012, then ascended stepwise toward the twelve-digit barrier over the past decade as it gained more approvals to dominate the CF arena. [In its 2023 Back to School issue, BioCentury analyzed Vertex as a case study among biotechs that have jumped into higher market-cap bands.]...