Today, biotech penny stocks are once again in the investor spotlight. Shares of Aeterna Zentaris (NASDAQ:AEZS) stock are 40% higher on some pretty interesting news.
Indeed, it appears investors are in risk-on sentiment mode. These investors are zeroing in on AEZS stock and its peers in a bid to add growth right now.
Let’s dive into what’s specifically driving AEZS shares higher today.
Oral Covid-19 Vaccine Potential Boosting AEZS Stock
Aeterna’s core focus on providing therapies in the areas of oncology and endocrinology has been supplanted by recent news the company is looking to commercialize a Covid-19 vaccine.
That’s great news, right? With so many vaccines already approved, investors may be reluctant to see why this announcement matters.
Well, Aeterna’s vaccine is different. The proposed vaccine would be administered orally. The company notes its inoculation method would be more cost-effective and less demanding in terms of both storage and logistics.
The company’s CEO has also stated that this vaccine could be improved in its ability to strengthen the immune response against variants of the coronavirus. Given what we know about mutated strains, this is certainly good news. Investors appear to be jumping on AEZS stock in anticipation of commercialization activities. Preclinical development studies on the potential vaccine still need to be conducted. However, initial data from Julius-Maximilians-University Wuerzburg, a research university in Germany, suggest this vaccine could be competitive.
The Bottom Line
With mass vaccinations picking up steam in the U.S. and in other countries, any novel vaccine idea is likely to be assessed by investors in terms of the speed such a vaccine could be brought to market. It appears, on this front, that Aeterna is doing a good job thus far of working toward commercializing this vaccine quickly.
The company recently announced its intention to explore this oral vaccine option on Feb. 2. The fact that Aeterna has made so much progress toward commercializing the vaccine so quickly appears encouraging to investors.
With more coronavirus variants being discovered, there’s the potential for a longer growth runway for vaccine producers. Additionally, there’s a growing school of thought that continued vaccinations may be required more frequently for the public to maintain immunity.
On the date of publication, Chris MacDonald did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.
