3 Small Biotechs Provide Coronavirus Drug Development Updates
Zacks Investment Research | Mar 11, 2020 10:36PM ET
With World Health Organization (WHO) declaring COVID-19 a pandemic, faster development of medicines/vaccines is the need of the hour. We note that COVID-19 has already infected more than 118,000 people and the death toll has crossed 4,200, globally. In the United States, the virus has infected more than 1,000 people and claimed 28 lives.
To prevent and treat COVID-19, biotech companies have accelerated their efforts to develop vaccines and treatments. Three small biotechs came up with updates on their coronavirus efforts on Wednesday.
Vir Biotechnology (NASDAQ:VIR)
Vir Biotechnology announced a joint research project with the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Vaccine Research Center (VRC). The entities will work jointly to identify combinations of antibodies against coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19 disease), SARS and MERS. Vir Biotechnology’s stock was up 13% on Wednesday in response to the news. Earlier this month, Vir Biotechnology announced a collaboration with Alnylam Pharmaceuticals to develop RNAi therapeutics targeting SARS-CoV-2. Earlier, Vir Biotechnology had claimed that it has identified two antibodies that bind to the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2
RedHill Biopharma (NASDAQ:RDHL)
RedHill said it is pursuing an “exploratory program” to evaluate its proprietary new chemical entities (NCE), opaganib and RHB-107, individually and in combination with hydroxychloroquine (a DMARD) and other compounds for treating COVID-19. The decision was based on pre-clinical data and literature indicating potential anti-viral activity of the NCEs.
Kamada (NASDAQ:KMDA)
Kamada announced plans to use its proven hyper-immunoglobulin (IgG) platform technology to develop an Anti-Corona (COVID-19) immunoglobulin as a potential therapy for severely ill coronavirus patients.
While RedHill carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), Vir Biotechnology and Kamada are #3 Ranked stocks. You can see Zacks Investment Research
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