A man used ChatGPT to cure his dog. Here are the stocks for the new age of programmable medicine.

By Steve Goldstein

Software is now on the verge of eating medicine, says tech investor Eric Jackson

Pet owner Paul Conyngham (second right) and Professor Pall Thordarson discussed the cancer vaccine given to Rose the dog on Australia's Today program.

There was an incredible story from the weekend in Australia, where a tech executive designed a personalized cancer vaccine for his dog Rose. He used ChatGPT and Google's DeepFold to analyze Rose's DNA, and got a university to manufacture a vaccine. The cancer wasn't cured but was greatly reduced, improving the quality of life for his canine companion.

Eric Jackson, the tech investor who is chief investment officer for EMJ Capital, talked about the investment implications, beyond the obvious that it shows off the potential for mRNA vaccine maker Moderna (MRNA).

"This guy just did something that looks like the first version of programmable medicine that people have been talking about but hasn't really happened yet," Jackson said in a video posted on LinkedIn. "Once AI can analyze your DNA, identify your mutations and generate molecules to target them, the medicine stops being a one-size-fits-all proposition. It becomes custom software for your body."

Software, he notes, has disrupted businesses before. "So when biology becomes programmable like this, entire industries change. Just like software ate media, just like software ate retail, software is now on the verge of eating medicine," he said.

The development would be good news for Nvidia (NVDA) which drives computing power, for Alphabet (GOOGL) which has the protein models and for Microsoft (MSFT) which has the AI platforms, he said. It also will benefit biotech platforms like Recursion (RXRX) and biotech software company Schrodinger (SDGR), he added.

The big pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer (PFE) and Merck (MRK) will still matter, he said. But AI is collapsing the moat that was the gigantic cost of discovery, he noted.

The pharma giants will still have other moats, notably the laborious regulatory and testing regime as well as distribution. But even in that realm there's change afoot - just last month, the Food and Drug Administration issued draft guidance for targeted individualized therapies without randomized control trials, and the regulator specifically referenced genome editing and RNA-based therapies.

The markets

U.S. stock futures (ES00) (NQ00) turned higher as the stock-market open approached. Oil (CL00) was moving higher once more.

   Key asset performance                                                Last       5d      1m      YTD     1y 
   S&P 500                                                              6699.38    -1.42%  -2.00%  -2.13%  18.05% 
   Nasdaq Composite                                                     22,374.18  -1.42%  -0.77%  -3.73%  25.64% 
   10-year Treasury                                                     4.229      6.50    16.50   5.70    -6.10 
   Gold                                                                 5018.9     -3.45%  2.50%   15.85%  65.00% 
   Oil                                                                  97         12.28%  55.70%  68.96%  45.69% 
   Data: MarketWatch. Treasury yields change expressed in basis points 

The buzz

Day 18 of the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran brought more attacks throughout the Middle East, as Israel said Iran's security chief Ali Larijani has been killed.

Pending home sales and leading economic indicators are due for release as the Federal Reserve begins its two-day interest-rate setting meeting.

The Reserve Bank of Australia hiked interest rates, though it likely will be the only one of the eight developed-market central banks meeting this week to do so.

Earnings come after the close from Oklo (OKLO), the nuclear reactor-maker, and athletics apparel retailer Lululemon (LULU).

Both Bank of America and JPMorgan are hosting conferences on the industrial sector, featuring presentations from companies including Boeing (BA) and American Airlines (AAL). Delta Air Lines (DAL) raised its revenue guidance for the quarter, citing demand momentum, while Honeywell International (HON) said Middle East turbulence will impact revenue.

Mastercard (MA) said it's buying BVNK, a stablecoin infrastructure company, for as much as $1.8 billion.

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The chart

Strategists at Bank of America led by Savita Subramanian have an intriguing chart, plotting the S&P 500 SPX in oil price terms. "Despite a 43% increase in oil and a drop in the S&P 500 since the weekend of the first salvo in Iran/U.S./Israel strikes, the simple ratio of price to oil is still 1.8 standard deviations above its average, and elevated relative to every prior period outside of the Tech Bubble and the COVID deflation shock," they say. The strategists recommend buying energy stocks and oil.

Top tickers

Here were the top performing stock-market tickers on MarketWatch as of 5 a.m. Eastern.

   Ticker  Security name 
   NVDA    Nvidia 
   TSLA    Tesla 
   MU      Micron Technology 
   GME     GameStop 
   TSM     Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing 
   NIO     Nio 
   AAPL    Apple 
   AMD     Advanced Micro Devices 
   PLTR    Palantir Technologies 
   MSFT    Microsoft 

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-17-26 0930ET