Dyadic International (NASDAQ:DYAI) surged more than 25% in trading today after announcing a partnership with South Korean Medytox to codevelop a multi-valent Covid-19 vaccine effective against multiple variants of the virus. The gains in DYAI stock today follow an announcement last week that one of the company’s Covid-19 vaccine candidates is headed to Phase I clinical trials in Israel.
This partnership expands the ongoing research collaboration between the two companies that started in July 2020. If successful, the companies will have an exclusive license to produce their vaccine in South Korea, among other nations in Southeast Asia.
Of particular interest to Medytox is Dyadic’s C1 technology, which allows for much larger-scale vaccine production than other methods. That C1 platform has already proved fruitful, as Dyadic’s Covid-19 vaccine candidate DYAI-100 heads toward Phase I clinical trials in Israel.
Following multiple studies with animal test subjects, positive Phase I results would help validate the safety of C1-derived vaccines in humans. A toxicology study is expected to begin in Q2 of 2021, while in-human clinical trials are scheduled for the second half of the year.
News of the impending clinical trial has also affirmed analyst expectations for this small cap company. Dawson James analyst Jason Kolbert reiterated a “Buy” rating for DYAI stock, sticking to a price target of $12. Kolbert appears less concerned with whether the company’s vaccine candidate ends up becoming a success and more interested in the potential for the company’s C1 platform to be part of future Covid-19 vaccines due to its capacity for large-scale production.
Dyadic International reports Q4 and full year 2020 earnings on March 30. Trading volume in DYAI stock was dramatically up, with more than 26.85 million trades at time of writing, compared with an average daily volume of about 141,000 trades.
On the date of publication, Vivian Medithi did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.
