As health officials around the world look for ways to stop monkeypox, investors are snapping up shares of companies that could benefit from the race to contain the disease.
Shares of vaccine makers, antiviral drug makers, and protective equipment makers are in demand as investors use strategies that emerged during the coronavirus pandemic. Biotechnology company Bavarian Nordic A/S and pharmaceutical company Siga Technologies Inc. are among the listed shares, as well as medical equipment supplier Precision Systems Science Co.
Although not as severe as the Covid-19 epidemic, the World Health Organization has declared the spread of monkeypox in more than 70 countries in a few months as an international emergency. This statement can give the business an extra tailwind.
Manish Bhargava, managing director of Straits Investment Holdings Pty Fund in Singapore, said: “Right now, the world is relying on one manufacturer, Bavarian Nordic, for a monkeypox vaccine. “To meet demand, we can expect other biotech companies to ramp up research and production. The strong share price performance for the sector is beginning to reflect that.”
Here are some of the sectors and companies that were active:
Vaccines and antivirals
Bavarian Nordic shares tripled from their lows in May after governments began ordering the Danish company’s monkeypox vaccine – the only vaccine approved to prevent the infection. The firm has raised its revenue guidance several times this year.
Analysts are taking notice, with Citigroup Inc raising its target price for the company’s stock by 20 percent and suggesting more upside if more orders come in. Shares of other companies producing monkeypox vaccines or antivirals have attracted the attention of US retailers. Shares of Ciga Technologies, which makes a treatment called Tpoxx, have doubled this year. The treatment is approved to treat smallpox in the US, and monkeypox and other viruses in the EU and the UK.
Chimerix Inc.’s Tembexa, a preventative measure used to treat smallpox, said in May that the company would sell the drug to Emergent BioSolutions Inc. On the vaccine side, Emergent’s ACAM2000 is a smallpox vaccine that can be used in some cases. To prevent monkey disease. Siga, Chimerics and Emergent are the “prime beneficiaries” of the World Health Organization’s declaration of a monkeypox outbreak as a global emergency, said Boris Picker, an analyst at Cowen Inc. “With additional resources allocated to research and testing in the EU and US, we expect the case count to increase significantly over the next few months, which may prompt additional procurement actions,” Picker wrote in a note.
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