The COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak has paralyzed the global economy. It has driven healthcare systems in the developed world to the brink, which we have seen in Italy and increasingly in other European nations.
The private sector is racing to provide treatment for this highly infectious disease, and there are multiple big names in the race. Let’s take a snapshot of a few today.
Inovio Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:INO) was one of the first names to be mentioned when this crisis began. This past month it received a $5-million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to support the testing and scale-up of a smart delivery device for the vaccine. The company was one of the first to put a vaccine into play, but disappointing earnings brought its stock down late last week.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:REGN) is a New York-based biotech firm. Its stock shot up 11.5% on March 17. On Tuesday morning the company announced a breakthrough in the search for the COVID-19 treatment, identifying hundreds of virus-neutralizing antibodies that could potentially be used in a cocktail drug.
This bears resemblance to the approach it pursued to combat Mers and the Ebola virus.
Pharma giant Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) saw its stock rise 6.56% on March 17. The company recently announced that it is working with BioNTech, a German firm that is working on new kinds of immunotherapy treatments, and on a potential COVID-19 vaccine.
Investors should keep in mind that, at this stage, a viable vaccine is unlikely to arrive for 12-18 months at minimum.
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