Amid a public outbreak emerging from COVID-19 and the disease that it causes, the novel coronavirus has many attempts to find answers to slow the spread of the disease and treat those who already have it. These efforts include governments, nonprofit organizations, and companies, both privately held and publicly traded.
To assist investors who aspire to retain tabs on the openly traded corporations with COVID-19 research, here are the records of all the firms with market caps of at least $200 million that are researching or have progressed COVID-19 vaccines, treatments, and tests.
Vaccines
Several companies already had vaccine platforms targeting other coronaviruses such as MERS and SARS. This enabled them to rapidly prototype experimental vaccines for immunizing against the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The following are all of the companies that are actively developing COVID-19 vaccines either on their own or in partnership with another drugmaker.
A couple of these firms seem to be currently leading. Last March, Moderna launched the first clinical testing in humans of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine. The biotech’s messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine was produced in cooperation with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Inovio, published on April 6, commenced a phase 1 clinical study of experimental COVID-19 DNA vaccine INO-4800.
Treatments
Numerous corporations now have certified products on the market that could handle potential in treating cases with COVID-19. Others have experimental drugs that have been involved in testing for other viruses that could be efficient in targeting novel coronavirus infection. Some are struggling to develop new therapies for COVID-19. The following are the companies that are developing or testing potential COVID-19 treatments.
Three drugs with the possibility to treat COVID-19 have gained the most public consideration. As per World Health Organization Assistant Director-General Bruce Aylward, Gilead’s remdesivir, which was initially produced to cure the Ebola virus, is in late-stage clinical studies and could be the most hopeful treatment. President Trump has spoken often about his view that anti-malaria drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, which are sold by companies including Sanofi, could be useful in treating COVID-19. Nevertheless, health officials have stressed that the drugs’ efficacy in treating COVID-19 remains unproven at this point.
Testing
The most pressing immediate need in the battle against COVID-19 is diagnostic tests to determine if the novel coronavirus infects individuals. Companies both large and small quickly developed such tests, with several receiving emergency use authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be marketed commercially. Other companies have helped by providing COVID-19 testing services. Here are the companies engaged in activities related to testing for COVID-19.
Roche and Thermo Fisher Scientific have committed to producing millions of COVID-19 tests. Abbott Labs recently launched the fastest COVID-19 test so far. Its difficulty, which runs on the company’s widely used ID NOW molecular diagnostics platform, can deliver positive results within five minutes and adverse effects within 13 minutes.
Investing considerations
Investors looking to buy shares of companies with COVID-19 programs should first determine how much risk they’re willing to take. Several of the companies are relatively small. The odds of failure, especially with experimental COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, are relatively high.
It’s also essential to assess each stock’s prospects outside the companies’ COVID-19 efforts. If you would be interested in buying a given stock even if it wasn’t developing a COVID-19 vaccine, treatment, or test, that should put the stock much higher on your list.
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