Novavax (NVAX) stock tacked on big gains in early trading Monday morning after the company announced it was beginning an “Ebola vaccine development program.”

Even before today’s gains, NVAX stock was up more than 20% in the last month as Wall Street bid up the stock prices of many companies involved or potentially involved in treating some aspect of the Ebola crisis. Shares of the biotech gained as much as 10% early Monday after Novavax’s press release.

“Non-Human Primate Study”

Novavax isn’t the only biotech company anxious to start studying an Ebola treatment. Now that there’s a chance such a treatment could be commercially viable, many in the healthcare space are getting involved.

NewLink Genetics (NLNK) actually beat NVAX to the punch when it announced its own Ebola vaccine development last week. The Phase 1 trials, which will determine whether humans can safely take the drug, are expected to finish by December, the same month that Novavax expects to begin its Phase I trials. Novavax has already begun testing on non-human primates.

The thing that makes Ebola drugs so interesting to Wall Street is that they stand a good chance of being fast-tracked through the typical development stages by health watchdogs and international governments, who are anxious to do anything and everything to stop the deadly viral disease before it claims more lives.

Although the World Health Organization has declared both Senegal and Nigeria “Ebola-free,” the disease is still a threat to international health, and potentially commerce and business. Out of roughly 10,000 known cases, about 5,000 people have died from Ebola during the recent outbreak.

NVAX and NLNK aren’t the only companies seeing increased interest from Wall Street due to their recent concentrations on the deadly viral disease. InvestorPlace‘s own Jeff Reeves pointed out several more “Ebola stocks” — stocks investors piled into recently as public fear spread — that could continue to rise if transmission rates suddenly go haywire.

Personally, I think jumping into a stock purely because it’s planning on starting Phase I trials on an Ebola drug or — even worse — because it makes protective smocks and hazmat-suits is a poor reason to invest. Sure, you could buy stock in the company or companies that were involved with the vaccine, but then you’re betting that Ebola will continue to spread and become a real worldwide health threat. Do you have your crystal ball on you?

Then there’s the very real chance that the media frenzy dies down and Ebola gets under control or at least somewhat contained. What happens to “Ebola stocks” then? Ibio (IBIO) and Lakeland Industries (LAKE) both know the answer to that: they plummet.

Thankfully for NVAX stock and its owners, Novavax has a legitimate business outside of Ebola already, generating tens of millions of dollars annually by developing recombinant vaccines.

As of this writing John Divine held no positions in any of the stocks mentioned. You can follow him on Twitter at @divinebizkid.