Some pharma cos gain on developing vaccines, test against coronavirus

NanoViricides,

23/01/2020 15:55

** Shares of Moderna  MRNA.O  are up ~2.6% at $22.54 and
Inovio Pharmaceuticals  INO.O  rises ~12% to $3.85 after cos
indicate they are developing vaccines for new China coronavirus 
    ** Moderna and Inovio get funding from Coalition for
Epidemic Preparedness Innovations to develop vaccine against
coronavirus  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nBw9TJgYha  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nPnSZdM7a
    ** Vir Biotechnology  VIR.O  is up 6.2% at $17.56, after co
said it is working to determine if its previously identified
anti-coronavirus monoclonal antibodies bind and neutralize the
new virus  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nGNX2tBWM4
    ** Shares of Novavax  NVAX.O , which announced a stock
offering on Wednesday, are up 11% at $7.88 and on track for a
weekly gain of over 25%
    ** Novavax told Reuters on Tuesday that co had started
development of a candidate for Wuhan coronavirus
    ** Meanwhile, Cerus  CERS.O  was up ~4.7% at $4.50 after
announcing publication of a study on the Middle Eastern
Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus in human platelet
concentrates using co's Intercept blood system for platelets
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nBw2lYBX5a
    ** The new outbreak, which has led to 17 deaths and 571
cases in China by the end of Wednesday, has sparked fears of
pandemic similar to SARS outbreak in 2003 that caused nearly 800
deaths  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N29R57J
    ** Shares of flu shot maker NanoViricides  NNVC.A  were also
up ~38.7% to $5.30

 (Reporting by Shivani Singh and Medha Singh in Benagluru)
 ((ShivaniSingh1@thomsonreuters.com;))