Ray Blanco isn’t just a tech analyst.

For the past decade-plus, he’s been on the bleeding edge of some of the world’s most promising technology trends.

As our publisher Matt said before Ray took the stage: “Ray has the unique ability to sift through a mountain of information in a variety of markets and distill it down to the most critical components.”

In his Paradigm Shift Summit talk in Vegas, he shared with us his next groundbreaking prediction…

And five ways to spot moonshot opportunities in biotech.

Presenting… Ray Blanco

“Imagine I was a powerful genie and I could make you an incredible offer,” Ray said as he took the stage. “I could give you $10 million, but you’re only going to live another year.”

The audience guffawed.

“Let me give you the opposite offer. Give me a million dollars and I’m going to give you an extra 20 or 30 productive years of life.”

No guffaws this time. Instead, nods litter the room.

But maybe you don’t have to give a genie million dollars. Maybe you don’t need a genie at all.

Maybe you could make a million (or more) from the many breakthroughs coming down the pike in longevity research… and extend your healthspan, too.

Enter biotech.

It's no secret that Ray loves biotech… especially when everyone else hates it.

Unlike other sectors, said Blanco, “biotech is one sector that offers a product for which there is truly inexhaustible demand. And it’s really made a big difference in how we live. One example is cancer. Cancer mortality improves by about .7% every year. Year after year after year.”

The biotech sector has the potential to accelerate that trend with every disease. And the profit potential is so large, it leaves other industries in the dust.

The Wizards of Longevity

Methuselah, son of Enoch, is a biblical patriarch who famously died at the age of 969.

Not bad.

Today, the Methuselah Foundation is driving some of the world’s most groundbreaking research and innovation for longevity.

"The focus of the Methuselah Foundation,” says the foundation's Chief Science Officer, Dr. Aubrey de Grey, “is not simply extending human life; it is discovering ways to limit and eventually eliminate the destructive effects of human aging, promoting not only longer life but freedom from the effects of aging-related conditions and diseases."

(Fun fact: I interviewed Aubrey de Grey in 2016. He’s a true modern-day wizard, with the beard to prove it. He wants you to outlive Methuselah. And he smelled like he’d just taken a long bath in a big batch of IPA beer.)

There are hundreds of foundations and initiatives just like this one with one singular aim: to help increase the health spans of humans. It’s not a wildly popular goal for the Malthusians -- who believe the world has too many humans as it is -- but I believe it’s a worthy one.

Unfortunately (or fortunately for investors), biotech has been getting creamed. But Blanco has good news…

The Bottom’s In?

“As for the biotech sector as a whole, I’m proud to announce, the bleeding has stopped. It has been the worst year and a half I have ever seen in the years I’ve covered biotech.”

Biotech is an industry full of asymmetric bets.

As Blanco mentioned, it’s the only sector with truly infinite demand. Even when the market is in the dumps, you can have a small biotech company skyrocket 100% in a single day on a catalyst or milestone.

“That’s not to say it’s all sunshine and roses,” Ray makes clear. “There’s huge rewards and huge risks at the same time. Most drugs that never get to human clinical trials never make it to market, which means they never generate money. They just consume cash.”

Even to get to human trials, a drugmaker has to beat out a massive crowd. If you’re a fledgling biotech company, the odds are always against you.

But there’s good news. We’re seeing improvements in the trial and approval process.

“As our knowledge of biology improves,” says Ray, “biotech is doing better earlier. And the FDA is doing a better job at communicating with these drug developers to let them know what they want to see before they can move on.”

What does this mean for investors? Each phase through the trial process is a potential catalyst that can send the stock soaring. And, with the right blueprint, these catalysts can become fairly predictable.

The Biotech Moonshot Blueprint

If you want big moonshot opportunities that go up a thousand percent or more, you want to look at these five things:

1.] Do they meet an unmet need?

“You want to look at companies that are developing drugs that meet an unmet medical need,” says Ray. “Something for which there is no treatment, so there is no competition.”

A large, unmet medical need means a huge market.

2.] Is this drug a whisper or a shout?

You need to ask if this drug is a whisper or a shout? Does it just mask the symptoms of the disease (whisper) or does it modify or cure the disease condition (shout)?

“A really good example,” says Ray, “is Alzheimer’s disease. Everything we’ve had approved up until last year just masked the cognitive decline for a little while. It didn’t change the course of the disease or even slow it down.”

Whispers are dud investments. Shouts bring in the big bucks.

3.] How does it compare to the status quo?

This one’s simple…

How does the drug compare to the current standard of care? The better it sizes up, the more the company can charge (and the bigger the opportunity for early investors).

4.] Check the designation.

If you’re just screening biotech companies, look at the designations. Does it have fast-track designation from the FDA? Breakthrough therapy designation? Priority review? Those mean something.

“Those can clue you in that this drug might be special,” Ray says. “Or what it’s treating is special.”

5.] Timing is everything.

“When you buy is really important. Timing is everything. I might have a company that’s working on something really cool, but I’m not going to get any data out for two years. So if I buy the company now, it’s dead money for two years. Also, if they’re running out of cash, they’re going to have to raise again and dilute my existing position.”

These are all things to consider.

So when you get in is crucial.

“It’s not just the what, but the when.”

Opportunities abound in biotech. And with Blanco’s moonshot blueprint, you’re lightyears ahead of the herd.