Altimmune Inc. (NASDAQ: ALT) shares skyrocketed 36% on robust volume in premarket trade on Tuesday in reaction to new positive results from a Phase II extension study of flu treatment candidate NasoVAX. The rally took place on robust volume of more than 1.5 million shares versus its full-day average of approximately 1.7 million shares.
The Gaithersburg, MD-based immunotherapeutics company said the results showed that 100% of eight evaluated subjects remained seroprotected and the seroconversion rate remained the same more than a year after vaccination.
Further, the median hemagglutination inhibition (HAI) titer was more than 3-times higher than generally accepted seroprotective levels. NasoVAX is well positioned to compete with other influenza vaccines currently under development, the company said. Altimmune is now seeking commercialization and development partnerships following the positive data.
Altimmune stock was up 22.83% to $3.55 as of 10:08 a.m. in New York. The shares have lost 94% year-over-year, but are up 40% since the beginning of the year through Monday.
Altimmune CEO Comments
“We are excited about the continued positive NasoVAX results and believe that if approved, NasoVAX has the potential to capture a significant portion of the global flu vaccine market. Based on the continued positive data, we are seeking development and commercialization partnerships for our NasoVAX program. This will allow us to focus on our strategy of building a pipeline of multiple early to mid-stage assets,” said Vipin K. Garg, Ph.D., President and CEO of Altimmune.
“We are currently engaged in a rigorous acquisition review process focused on novel immunotherapeutic approaches for cancer, including immunostimulants and oncolytic viruses, and innovative product candidates for liver diseases. The proceeds from our recent successful financing efforts have put us in a strong position to execute our acquisition plans,” Garg concluded.
Altimmune, Inc. Profile
Altimmune, Inc. is a clinical stage immunotherapeutic biotechnology company. It is involved in the business of developing products that engage, stimulate and improve immune responses for the prevention and treatment of diseases.
The firm’s product candidates include Nasovax, Heptcell, Sparvax-L, Nasoshield, and Oncosyn. It also develops platform technologies such as RespirVec and Densigen. The company generates its revenue from cost plus fee contracts and fixed-price contracts.
