Re: Farmas USA
What: Shares of Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of vaccines to treat a variety of infectious diseases, surged by 24% in June, based on data from S&P Capital IQ, due to infectious disease concerns in overseas markets.
So what: Though it's difficult to trace Novavax's share price increase in June to just a single event, the fact that it's in the process of doing research into Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS, a disease currently without a cure, appears to be enough to boost shareholder interest in the stock for the time being.
In South Korea (as of July 1, 2015), 184 people have been diagnosed with MERS, included 33 that passed away and 102 that were cured of the disease. Outside of Saudi Arabia, where MERS is believed to have originated, South Korea represents the largest outbreak. Much like we saw biopharmaceutical companies being rewarded last year for researching Ebola (which Novavax is doing, too), Novavax is likely getting a nice boost from its ongoing research into MERS.
Additionally, in a recent company presentation Novavax's management team announced that four of its clinical trials should be yielding data in the third quarter. These include its seasonal quadrivalent flu vaccine, its respiratory syncytial virus vaccine for the elderly, its maternal RSV vaccine for the protection of infants, and its Ebola vaccine. Investors like catalysts, and Novavax is giving Wall Street a big helping in Q3.
Nvax
