The race is on to develop a vaccine for COVID-19.
And there are quite a few players. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are at least 70 companies working on a treatment. On news of human trials, a couple of COVID-19 vaccine stocks are just now beginning to run higher.
Shares of BioNTech (BNTX) for example were up more than $3 a share earlier.
All after BioNTech and Pfizer secured approval to conduct human clinical trials of a possible coronavirus vaccine in Germany. According to Bloomberg, “Regulators gave the green light to test the companies’ proposed vaccine on 200 healthy people aged 18 to 55 years in a first stage, and on additional high-risk candidates in a second stage.”
The two expect to win approval for testing in the U.S. shortly.
“It’s a good sign that the development of vaccines in Germany is at a stage at which we can begin with the first trials,” Health Minister Jens Spahn said, as also quoted by Bloomberg. “At the same time, it’s important to remember that it will take months before a vaccine will be fully tested and can actually be available.”
Inovio Pharmaceuticals (INO) is showing even more signs of life, too.
After getting the approval of the U.S. FDA in early April 2020, Inovio vaccine trials began on 40 adult volunteers in Philadelphia and Kansas City.
Each of the participants will now receive two doses of INO-4800 four weeks apart, which should provide Inovio with initial immune responses and safety data by late summer.
“We’ve tested our DNA medicine vaccines in thousands of people over the course of our experience. So, we have a good handle on how these vaccines react in the clinic, and we’re very comfortable with that. We are very, very comfortable with safety database we have collected so far,” says Inovio Senior Vice President, R&D, Kate Broderick.
Novavax (NVAX) Jumped 25% Earlier this Week
NVAX was higher on Monday after announcing it would start a vaccine called SARS-CoV-2 Recombinant Spike Protein Nanoparticle, NVX-CoV2373 within weeks. “Our scientists identified an ideal vaccine candidate selected from a number of constructs and, in partnership with Dr. Matthew Frieman, demonstrated that NVX-CoV2373 produces high levels of neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in animal studies,” said Gregory Glenn, M.D., President of Research and Development at Novavax. “In addition, we have worked closely with our colleagues at Emergent BioSolutions to transfer our production technology that allows the manufacture of GMP vaccine for clinical trials. With preliminary CEPI funding, these heroic efforts, combined with the candidate’s excellent early results, put us in position to have preliminary human data in July.”
