The biotech company, Novavax, was among the top performers in Tuesday trading. The vaccine developer’s shares jumped 13.3% to $52.25 after the company shared that it is launching its experiments on an anti-coronavirus vaccine.
Novavax stated that it began the first phase of its vaccine experiment. The first step towards the development of the vaccine is to enroll 130 healthy candidates in the experiment. The results of the first phase of the testing process are expected to be available in July. Rival company, Merck & Co. is also said to actively work on the development of a vaccine.
The news about the potential vaccines against the COVID-19 virus have brought the companies a jump in shares. Many investors are hopeful about the successful development of a vaccine for the devastating virus.
The reason why many believe that the Novavax drug might work is the fact that this will be a “subunit” vaccine. This is a type of drug that is considered safer and easier to produce, compared to the vaccine that Moderna is trying to develop.
Novavax announced that it will start its human trials of the experimental vaccine in Australia. If the results of the experiment are positive, the company will expand its trials to the U.S. The biotech company hopes that it will develop a successful anti-coronavirus vaccine by creating harmless copies of the virus and testing the drug it has developed.
The company already used the same technology for the development of a nanoparticle flu vaccine. The drug is currently at its last testing phase and Novavax hopes that the anti-coronavirus vaccine will have the same success.
Analyst stock price forecast and recommendation
According to CNN Money, the 5 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for Novavax Inc. have a median target of $50.00, with a high estimate of $53.00 and a low estimate of $40.00. The median estimate represents a -5.93% decrease from the last price of $53.15.
The same source of media also offers recommendations of 5 polled investment analysts. All of them rated the Novavax Inc. stock as “Buy”.
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