While vaccine stocks have been surging in recent weeks as Delta variant cases continue to grow, another COVID-related biotech ended up surging on Tuesday. Virpax Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRPX), a company with just a $22.5 million market cap, shot up exponentially over the course of yesterday after it announced its new drug candidate had received a pre-investigation designation. The drug in question, MMS019, has some potential as a new antiviral treatment.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said that MMS019 demonstrated enough benefits in early-stage research that it justified a pre-investigational new drug (pre-IND) response. In layman’s terms, a pre-IND means that Virpax will have an accelerated pathway to receive a full-blown IND, which would cement MMS019 as a closely watched treatment by the FDA. For clinical-stage biotech stocks, getting an accelerated pathway to approval from health authorities is a major win as well as a significant vote of confidence.
MMS019 is a once-daily intranasal treatment designed to help inhibit viral replication in patients. While the treatment is marketed towards influenza, it’s mainly picking up traction as a potential use against Covid-19. So far, the data suggests that MMS019 is effective in preventing the COVID virus from spreading throughout the body. However, much more testing is still needed at this point. Up until now, all of these current tests using MMS019 have been using animals rather than humans.
“We are very pleased with the response from the FDA. We believe that the initial pathway to move forward with the development of MMS019 has been clarified,” said Anthony P. Mack, Virpax’s CEO. “The pre-IND meeting provides an opportunity for open communication between the Sponsor and the FDA to discuss the IND development plan and to obtain the FDA’s guidance for clinical studies for the new drug candidate.”
Regardless, investors are eager to invest in the next hot way to invest in COVID stocks. With the media continuing to cover the rising Delta variant cases, many investors have been worried about another potential outbreak, as well as the best way to reinvest their portfolio should this happen. While vaccine stocks have already benefited from this news, many in the markets are looking for the next hot coronavirus stock to invest in. Virpax seems like it could be one.
Shares of Virpax shot up as much as 265.3% over the course of Tuesday following the news, making it the single best-performing stock by a mile. While massive jumps are typical for clinical-stage biotech stocks, which are largely news-driven by nature, a 260%+ jump is quite a big deal for traders, with many managing to ride the momentum wave across the entire day. However, these types of jumps tend to be followed by a big reversal the next day, so be careful if you want to trade VRPX on Wednesday.
Virpax Pharmaceuticals Company Profile
Virpax Pharmaceuticals Inc is a preclinical stage biopharmaceutical company. The company is focused on developing pharmaceutical product candidates for pain management. Its product portfolio includes Topical metered-dose spray; Liposomal in Hydrogel encapsulation; and Enkephalin Intranasal spray. – Warrior Trading News