4 Vaccine Stocks Making Big Moves Amid Coronavirus Outbreak

Shares of several vaccine makers were on the rise Tuesday following reports of a spreading coronavirus outbreak in Asia. China’s Xinhua News Agency had confirmed 217 cases, including one in Japan, one in South Korea and two in Thailand. Six deaths have been confirmed.

Novavax, Inc. NVAX was the biggest mover, jumping more than 40%. Novavax already had some traction in recent days on news that it got fast-track designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its experimental flu vaccine NanoFlu.

Another big mover Tuesday was Aethlon Medical, Inc. AEMD, up more than 20%. The company makes a medical device called the Hemopurifier, which is designed to quickly eliminate viral pathogens from the circulatory system. The company said in 2016 that among the pathogens it could remove from the bloodstream were those known as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV).

See Also: What You Need To Know About The Coronavirus

Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc INO, which is working on an anti-Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus DNA vaccine, and BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. BCRX, which is developing galidesivir, primarily seen as a yellow fever and Marbug virus drug, but which has demonstrated in vitro success against other viruses, including coronaviruses, also saw their stocks move higher.

Shares of Novavax were up 40.24% at publication time to $8.05, while Aethlon stock was up 24.43% at $2.56.

Inovio shares were up 5.78% at $3.48 and BioCryst was up 5.04%, trading at $2.92.