Why Vaxart Shares Are Surging In Thursday's After-Hours Session

Vaxart Inc VXRT is surging higher in after-hours trading Thursday after the company reported a Duke University-led study published in bioRxiv showed that the company's investigational oral tablet vaccine reduced the airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 virus in an animal model.

Vaxart said that the results are consistent with results from the company's Phase 2 human flu challenge study, which showed that Vaxart's oral tablet vaccine was better at reducing shedding than the injectable flu vaccine comparator.

Vaxart also noted that the preclinical study demonstrated that the company's oral vaccine platform induces robust systemic and mucosal responses.

"The data reported provides further evidence that our oral vaccine could offer both an easier, more attractive mode of administration and potentially superior protection against respiratory viruses," said Andrei Floroiu, CEO of Vaxart.

Vaxart is a clinical-stage biotechnology company that focuses on the development of oral recombinant vaccines to protect against a wide range of infectious diseases.

VXRT Price Action: Vaxart has traded as high as $24.90 and as low as $3.50 over a 52-week period.

The stock was up 11% at $7.87 in Thursday's after-hours session at time of publication.

Photo: Jernej Furman from Flickr.