Both of these small-cap vaccine stocks are up big in 2020.
A COVID-19 vaccine will be worth billions and billions of dollars. It will likely be the most important drug on the planet. There are numerous pharmaceutical companies are pursuing a vaccine, and the market has currently begun rewarding some of them. Today the big winners are small-cap biotech vaccine specialists. For example, Novavax ( NASDAQ: NVAX) is up a shocking 2,500%in 2020.
Novavax is not the only winner. Many other biotechs have an excellent shot at a COVID-19 vaccine, and the market is rewarding those stocks. And so far, small Vaxart ( NASDAQ: VXRT) is up practically as much as Novavax, running up 2,135%since January.
Is it too late to buy one of these winners? Today I’m going to look at Novavax competitors Altimmune and Vaxart. Is either of these vaccine biotech stocks a buy?
Image source: Getty Images
Why is the marketplace going bananas for Vaxart?
You may be surprised to find that Vaxart shares are now offering for $7. Yes, it was a penny stock back then, and it’s still quite much a cent stock today, in spite of the substantial run-up.
The company found its lead COVID-19 vaccine prospect back in May. “All our COVID-19 vaccine constructs were highly immunogenic in preclinical testing, and we are taking the prospect forward that is expected to produce the broadest immune action in people,” said Sean Tucker, Ph.D., chief clinical officer of Vaxart.
While Vaxart has actually not started its stage 1 human trial yet, even positive animal data in a COVID-19 trial suffices to send out among these small-cap stocks skyrocketing. Another piece of big news is that Vaxart has actually signed a production arrangement with Atwill Medical Solutions to produce the business’s vaccine if and when it clears the FDA obstacles.
Maybe the most significant news is that Vaxart’s drug has been picked by Operation Warp Speed for funding. Operation Warp Speed is the federal government program that is trying to get COVID-19 vaccines to the public as fast as possible.
While Vaxart’s drug obviously will not be the very first to market, it was definitely news that the federal government noticed this small biotech and decided to send it tax dollars. And why was the drug selected for an animal research study, suggesting that the federal government isn’t trusting Vaxart’s announced data, and wants to evaluate the drug all over again?
I think the response is that Vaxart’s vaccine is a tablet that you swallow, not a shot. The vast majority of vaccine prospects are injectable medications. Even if Vaxart’s drug is late to the party, an oral COVID-19 vaccine that works would be big news.
“We are particularly interested in vaccine candidates that can produce mucosal immune reactions in addition to serum antibody reactions. That is a crucial feature of our oral vaccines and potentially considerable for protection against SARS Cov-2, the infection that triggers COVID-19,” the company stated in a press release.
Altimmune is looking excellent
Like Vaxart, Altimmune’s vaccine prospect is not a shot. It’s an intranasal vaccine that you breathe in.
Altimmune actually has two COVID-19 drugs in its pipeline. AdCOVID is the nasal vaccine, intended to keep individuals from catching the disease.
Altimmune has a fantastic pipeline of drugs, consisting of an influenza vaccine in stage 2, and another drug for liver disease B. And while Altimmune is not a part of Operation Terminal velocity (yet), the company has actually won funding from the U.S. Department of Defense to spend for its clinical trial for its T-COVID drug.
Perhaps among the more fascinating elements of Altimmune is that the business has a NASH drug in its pipeline. NASH, in some cases described as NAFLD, is likewise referred to as non-alcoholic fatty liver illness. Danger factors for the illness include obesity and type 2 diabetes. The drug, ALT-801, is still in preclinical trials. It helps fix NASH by assisting people slim down.
Which stock is the stronger buy?
Total, I believe Altimmune appears to be a stronger biotech company, while Vaxart appears to have a head start in the COVID-19 race, since its vaccine has received Lightning speed funding (albeit for an animal study). Both are appealing, but today I would hold off on buying either of them and wait on additional information.
Taylor Carmichael owns shares of Novavax and Shopify. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Shopify. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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Taylor Carmichael owns shares of Novavax and Shopify. The Motley Fool owns shares of and suggests Shopify. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy
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source https://jobsearchtips.net/better-coronavirus-stock-altimmune-vs-vaxart/
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