Why Moderna, Bio-Path Holdings And vTv Therapeutics Are Moving Today

Moderna, Inc. MRNA, Bio-Path Holdings, Inc. BPTH and vTv Therapeutics Inc. VTVT are among the biggest biotech movers Tuesday.

Moderna Gains On Additional EU Orders: Moderna announced that the European Commission has purchased an additional 150 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine. This takes the total confirmed order commitment from the EC to 460 million doses.

The new contract will provide European countries access to updated COVID-19 vaccine booster candidates. Delivery of updated variant booster vaccine candidate will begin in 2022, the company said.

Moderna shares were advancing 2.65% to $213.75.

Related Link: Novavax Vs. Pfizer Vs. Moderna: How COVID-19 Vaccines Stack Up

Bio-Path Rallies On Patent Grant: Bio-Path said the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted a new patent relating to its BP1003 program, a novel liposome-incorporated oligodeoxynucleotide inhibitor against signal transduction and activator of transcription-3.

"Our growing intellectual property portfolio continues to be a meaningful asset for Bio-Path and the addition of this new patent further strengthens our value as we advance our newest pipeline product, BP1003," said Peter Nielsen, CEO of Bio-Path.

Bio-Path is a biotech leveraging its proprietary DNAbilize liposomal delivery and antisense technology to develop a portfolio of targeted nucleic acid cancer drugs.

Bio-Path was adding 7.67% to $6.88.

vTv Moves On Out-licensing Deal: vTv said it entered into a licensing agreement with Cantex, granting the latter exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialize azeliragon. Azeliragon is a phase 2-ready oral medication administered once daily, which has demonstrated a good safety profile in several Alzheimer's disease trials.

Cantex said it intends to move rapidly to prepare for clinical trials assessing the potential of azeliragon for the treatment of a number of complications associated with cancer.

Under the terms of the agreement, Cantex will be responsible for the development and commercialization of azeliragon and the companies will allocate downstream profits under a tiered arrangement.

vTv is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing oral small molecule drug candidates.

vTv shares are rising 6.57% to $2.51.