Shares of three biotechs that are working on vaccines for the Wuhan coronavirus have had a volatile week, as worries over the spread of the illness weigh on global investors.
The World Health Organization declared the coronavirus epidemic a public health emergency of international concern after the virus has killed over 200 so far in China.
As health authorities race to contain the outbreak, U.S. health officials on Friday said nearly 200 Americans were placed under quarantine at a U.S. air base in California after being evacuated from Wuhan, China.
Despite enthusiasm from investors, analysts caution that it’s unlikely the vaccines under development could make it to market in time to see revenue from the current outbreak, Barron’s explained.
“Companies stating their interest in development vaccines for coronavirus are likely too late, as we saw similar commentary around SARS and other similar situations,” wrote Jefferies health care trading desk analyst Jared Holz in a note earlier this week, the financial newspaper reported.
Shares of the midsized clinical-stage biotech firm Moderna (MRNA) and shares of the small biotechs Novavax (NVAX) and Inovio Pharmaceuticals (INO) have all been volatile since the virus appeared.
The news reports fueling the three biotech stocks “relate to early-stage programs using novel scientific modalities to move quickly on possible vaccines for the disease,” Barron’s explained.
“Yet the drugs would still likely take months or years until they could be made widely available. And though some of the companies involved have extensive drug pipelines, not one of them has previously received Food and Drug Administration approval for any of its products,” Barron’s said.
Barron’s has said Moderna is working to develop a vaccine for the new coronavirus based on the messenger RNA technology in which the firm specializes.
Novavax stock surged again on Monday, even though the company’s CEO told Yahoo Finance on Friday that a coronavirus vaccine wouldn’t be available anytime soon.
Meanwhile, an international agency funded by a handful of governments and large private foundations, called the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, said it had given Inovio a grant to develop a vaccine for the novel coronavirus.
Elsewhere, Gilead Sciences Inc. said on Friday it provided its experimental Ebola therapy for use in a small number of patients with the coronavirus and is working with the country's authorities to set up a study, Reuters reported.
The company said it was also expediting laboratory testing of the antiviral drug, remdesivir, against samples of the new coronavirus, which has infected nearly 10,000 globally.
Johnson & Johnson on Wednesday joined a growing list of drugmakers to begin work on developing a vaccine for the virus.
Last week, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told Reuters his agency was working with Gilead to test remdesivir.
The drug had previously been tested in patients with Ebola but was found to be ineffective. Gilead told Reuters last week that the drug was shown to be active in animals with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, which are closely related to the current virus.
© 2025 Newsmax Finance. All rights reserved.