As we know, the Covid-19 pandemic is far from over. For major vaccine players, this has proven to be a good thing. For investors in smaller, less-established vaccine players such as Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) and NVAX stock, it’s been a bit more of a rocky ride of late.
As far as smaller vaccine stocks go, Novavax is a company with a relatively robust track record. This company’s Covid-19 vaccine, named NVX-CoV2373, is produced using “small, laboratory-built pieces of the coronavirus to stimulate immunity, which is a more traditional approach for vaccine development that some people may be more familiar or comfortable with compared with the mRNA vaccines.” This vaccine has already been approved in Indonesia, South Korea, Australia and India. Applications have been filed in the European Union, United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and the Philippines.
However, the one big missing application, thus far, has been for the U.S.
Today, that all changed. Let’s dive into the big announcement that has NVAX stock surging more than 8% today.
Request for Emergency Use Authorization in U.S. Boosts NVAX Stock
Today, Novavax investors finally got the news they’ve been waiting for. The biotech company officially announced that it has submitted an emergency use authorization (EUA) request to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its protein-based vaccine candidate.
If approved, this emergency use authorization would allow Novavax entry into the lucrative U.S. market. The company claims that should this application be successful, 100 million doses could be ready for shipment.
This application is based on two large clinical trials the company says demonstrate efficacy of around 90%. The company hopes that Novavax’s protein-based vaccine platform could encourage unvaccinated persons in the U.S. to take the vaccine, given its differentiated platform. Accordingly, some investors are bullish with respect to the potential for this application to be successful, relative to other emergency use applications the FDA had previously rejected.
Right now, it’s clear NVAX stock remains a speculative bet. This is a company that is currently down nearly 75% from its peak. This is largely due to waning bullish sentiment around vaccine stocks. However, it appears some of that optimism is coming back today. This will certainly be an interesting stock to watch from here.
On the date of publication, Chris MacDonald did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
