Sorrento (NASDAQ:SRNE)’s fade continued in the last week when the stock dropped 21%. It is now well off the $19.39 peak reached last month in August. Speculators who chased Covid-19 vaccine developers should have looked at Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) first.
Between March and April, hospitals had only Gilead’s Remdesivir as an antiviral drug to test on seriously infected patients. Unfortunately, markets lost interest in the drug stock by late May. In August, selling accelerated when Gilead’s partner, Galapagos, posted that the Food and Drug Administration issued a complete response letter for filgotinib. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration requested more clinical data.
Sorrento’s drop signals the lack of investor confidence in the company. The firm has a history of losses. So, its strong reliance on its vaccine candidate, T-VIVI-19, cannot fail. Any poor clinical data will send the stock lower. SRNE stock gained attention when the company said COVI-GUARD, a neutralizing antibody that binds to the S1 subunit of the coronavirus spike protein. Its chief called it a coronavirus cure.
CureVac, a biotech firm headquartered in Germany, has a potential vaccine against Covid-19.
The company will get up to EUR 252 million from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Although the stock is up from its IPO price of $16, Phase 1 results could re-ignite a rally