The discovery of penicillin was arguably the most important moment in modern medical history. It kickstarted an antibiotics revolution that has saved literally billions of lives around the world.

You might think that such a momentous discovery was made by a dedicated team working around the clock to develop new treatments for the deadliest diseases of their time — but you’d be wrong.

It was actually an accidental byproduct of unrelated research. Dr. Alexander Fleming was studying variations in the growth patterns of staphylococcus aureus bacteria when he noticed that petri dishes that had been contaminated with penicillium rubens mold didn’t grow a culture.

Indeed, many of the most important — and lucrative — discoveries in medical history have been spinoffs from unrelated research.

And in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists are exploring a number of new medical technologies that are ripe for investment…

COVID-19 Has Opened Up New Biotechnologies For Investors

One such technology is powering the COVID-19 vaccines that have now been given to more than 25% of Americans: messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) medicine.

Our cells store their genetic information in deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecules. But the ribosomes — the cell organelles that actually make proteins — can’t read DNA. They can only read mRNA, which is an intermediary form of nucleic acid used to transcribe genetic information from DNA and carry it throughout the cell.

Before COVID-19, scientists had spent years investigating the possibility of using mRNA as a vaccination method — as a way to transmit instructions on how to produce germ-fighting antibodies directly into patients’ cell nuclei.

A 2018 study from the University of Cambridge’s PHG Foundation suggested that mRNA vaccines could be faster, cheaper, and safer to produce than conventional vaccines, which inject weakened forms of a germ for patients’ immune systems to use as target practice.

But until COVID-19, mRNA medicine was a completely speculative technology; the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had never previously approved any mRNA-based vaccine or treatment.

The approval and successful rollout of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines — both of which are mRNA-based — is a watershed moment for the technology, and could bring many more mRNA-based vaccines and treatments to market behind it.

Custom antibody production — although not quite as new as mRNA medicine — is another emerging medical technology that has seen its development accelerate during COVID-19.

Fortune Business Insights estimates that the antibody industry will grow at a compound annualized growth rate (CAGR) of 14% through 2027 — a significantly faster growth rate than the firm’s pre-COVID projections.

And the rapid rise of investor interest in antibody production is striking. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals saw its share price climb 10% during the week when its custom COVID-19 antibody cocktail was given to President Trump during his illness.

But this is just one past example of how COVID-19 has directed investors’ attention toward new biotechnologies. The three stocks we’re profiling below are each developing new vaccines and therapies based on scientific techniques pioneered during the pandemic — but none have caught the attention of rank-and-file investors, yet…

ImmunoPrecise (NASDAQ: IPA)

Founded in 1989 and based in Victoria, British Columbia, ImmunoPrecise is a leading developer and manufacturer of custom antibodies.

CEO Jennifer Bath recently explained on Fox Business Network that the company is currently producing custom antibody cocktails for all of the documented variants of COVID-19.

As you can see above, ImmunoPrecise stock has run into some turbulence in recent months. But the stock’s steady revenue growth and rising importance in the fight against viral diseases should help it recover quickly.

CureVac (NASDAQ: CVAC)

Founded in 2000 and based in Tubingen, Germany, CureVac is a biopharmaceutical company that focuses on mRNA-based vaccines. It is developing a COVID-19 vaccine, which is in Phase III clinical trials.

CureVac is also working on a mRNA-based rabies vaccine whose Phase I clinical trials concluded very positively last year. If approved, the rabies vaccine is likely to become the first non-COVID-related mRNA product approved anywhere in the world.

As you can see above, CureVac stock has performed quite well in the last year — and that’s in large part a consequence of the firm’s triple-digit annualized revenue growth.

But as its flagship products approach approval, that stock price growth should only quicken…

Translate Bio (NASDAQ: TBIO)

Founded in 2011 and based in Lexington, Massachusetts, Translate Bio is a biotech firm focused on RNA medicine.

Its flagship product is an RNA-based therapy for cystic fibrosis whose Phase I/II clinical trials recently resumed in the U.S. after a brief pause. The drug has already received Fast Track and Orphan Drug designations from the FDA.

Like CureVac, Translate Bio has seen stellar stock price performance in the last year — and also like CureVac, those gains are backended by solid revenue growth. The firm is expected to reach profitability this year based on its forward price-to-earnings ratio.

Translate Bio has grown its revenue by more than 1,000% in the last year — and as its flagship product moves toward approval, that growth could quicken still.

Are mRNA And Custom Antibodies The New Antibiotics?

Necessity is the mother of invention — and unfortunately, COVID-19 is unlikely to be the last public health crisis that will spark a biotech gold rush in our lifetimes.

Back in 2018, a nonprofit called EcoHealth Alliance conducted a study where they drew blood from about 400 people in southern China and analyzed it for antibodies.

They found that nearly 3% of people had been infected with an unknown coronavirus in the last few years — implying that the kind of animal-to-human pathogenesis that gave us COVID-19 isn’t as uncommon as we’d like to think, and that this is unlikely to be the last animal-originated pandemic in our lifetimes.

The unfortunate reality is that medical technologies pioneered during the COVID-19 pandemic — like mRNA medicine and custom antibody production on an industrial scale — will be necessary again, likely sooner than we’d prefer.

And companies that distinguish themselves as early movers within these technologies should make their shareholders very wealthy during the next crisis.

At Nick Hodge's Foundational Profits, we brief our subscribers on emerging investment trends like mRNA medicine and custom antibody production before they hit the headlines.

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