Stocks Double And Tripled In Value From Coronavirus

(RTTNews) - As the novel coronavirus COVID-19 continues to spread quickly and severely around the world, pharma companies are racing to find a treatment for the deadly virus. There have been unconfirmed reports from China claiming that AbbVie's HIV medicine Kaletra/Aluvia is effective in COVID-19 treatment.

Despite markets steadily losing triple digits during the past week or more, many healthcare stocks are gaining significant ground. Listed below are some of the stocks that have been rallying on the back of the spread of the deadly virus.

1. Co-Diagnostics Inc. (CODX)

Co-Diagnostics, which closed Wednesday's trading at $13.18, is up 1,372% year-to-date.

The Company recently received CE Mark approval for its Logix Smart Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Test kit.

News that moves:

-- On January 23, the Company announced that it has completed the principle design work for a PCR screening test for the new coronavirus, intended to address the potential need for detection of the virus. -- On January 30, the Company announced the successful initial verification of its novel coronavirus screening test Logix Smart COVID-19 test kit. -- On February 24, the Logix Smart Coronavirus COVID-19 Test received CE mark. -- On March 2, the Company announced that its coronavirus test kits are available to laboratories certified under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) for use according to the FDA guidelines. -- On March 5, the Company announced that both domestic and international demand has surged for its novel coronavirus detection kits in recent weeks leading to increased product shipments.

2. Allied Healthcare Products Inc. (AHPI)

Allied Healthcare, which closed Wednesday's trading at $14.74, is up 1,112% year-to-date.

Allied Healthcare is a manufacturer of medical gas construction equipment, respiratory therapy equipment, home healthcare products, and emergency medical supplies.

The stock has been rallying on news. The last what we heard from the Company was its second-quarter financial results on February 14.

In the second quarter ended December 31, 2019, net loss widened to $1.53 million or $0.38 per share from $0.8 million or $0.19 per share in the year-ago quarter. Net sales in the recent second quarter declined to $7.31 million from $8.10 million in the year-earlier quarter.

3. AIM ImmunoTech Inc. (AIM)

AIM ImmunoTech, which closed Wednesday's trading at $4.25, has gained 672% year-to-date.

News that moves:

-- On February 11, the Company announced the filing of three provisional patent applications related to its drug candidate Ampligen for use against the novel coronavirus.

Ampligen is said to have achieved 100% survival rate at clinically achievable human dosage levels for SARS in animal experiments conducted in 2003. Therefore, the Company believes it is very likely that Ampligen would have similar antiviral activity against the novel COVID-19 as it did against the SARS-CoV.

-- On February 27, the Company joined with ChinaGoAbroad (CGA) to facilitate the entry of Ampligen into the People's Republic of China (PRC) for use as a prophylactic/early-onset therapeutic against COVID-19.

ChinaGoAbroad (CGA) is a membership-based website and matchmaking service for cross-border investment activities relating to China.

-- On March 9, the Company announced that the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) in Japan will begin testing Ampligen as a potential treatment for COVID-19. The experimental program will be conducted at both the NIID and the University of Tokyo.

3. iBio Inc. (IBIO)

iBio, which closed Wednesday's trading at $1.58, is up 534% year-to-date.

News that moves:

-- On February 3, iBio entered into a deal with Beijing CC-Pharming Ltd. to develop and test a new 2019-nCoV vaccine to be manufactured using iBio's FastPharming System. -- On March 2, the Company announced that it will not seek authority from the shareholders to effect a reverse split of its issued and outstanding shares of common stock and withdrew its Proxy Statement Proposal filed with the SEC on January 23, 2020.

4. Vaxart Inc. (VXRT)

Vaxart, which closed Wednesday's trading at $2.07, is up 490% year-to-date.

News that moves:

-- On January 31, the Company announced that it has initiated a program to develop a coronavirus vaccine candidate based on its proprietary oral vaccine platform, VAAST. The Company plans to generate vaccine candidates based on the published genome of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) and evaluate them in preclinical models. -- On February 27, the Company entered into definitive agreements with several institutional investors for the issuance and sale of 4 million shares of its common stock and warrants to purchase up to 2 million shares of its common stock, at a combined purchase price of $2.50 per share and associated warrant, for aggregate gross proceeds of $10.0 million.

5. NanoViricides Inc. (NNVC)

NanoViricides, which closed Wednesday's trading at $8.02, is up 219% year-to-date.

News that moves:

-- On January 30, the Company confirmed that it is working on developing a treatment for the novel coronavirus and that it intends to pursue a relevant collaboration for testing of its drug candidates soon.

The class of drugs being developed by the Company is called nanoviricides, and the process to develop a process is said to be faster than developing a vaccine.

6. Vir Biotechnology Inc. (VIR)

Vir Biotechnology, which closed Wednesday's trading at $33.77, is up 168% year-to-date.

News that moves:

-- On January 22, Vir announced that it is working to rapidly determine whether its previously identified anti-coronavirus monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) bind and neutralize the novel coronavirus. -- On February 12, the Company announced that it has identified two monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) that bind to COVID-19. -- On February 25, Vir entered into a collaboration with WuXi Biologics to advance and produce human monoclonal antibodies for the potential treatment of COVID-19. -- On March 4, the Company expanded its existing collaboration with Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ALNY) to include the development and commercialization of RNAi therapeutics targeting the COVID-19 virus. -- On March 11, the Company inked a research collaboration with the National Institutes of Health Vaccine Research Center to advance characterization and development of human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against the novel coronaviruses.

7. Cocrystal Pharma Inc. (COCP)

Cocrystal Pharma, which closed Wednesday's trading at $1.26, is up 154% year-to-date.

News that moves:

-- On February, 13, the Company announced that its proprietary structure-based drug discovery platform technology is capable of addressing shortcomings in the treatment of viruses with significant unmet needs, as well as in the development of safe and effective antiviral therapies for new viruses as they arise, such as the COVID-19 coronavirus. -- On February 24, the Company entered into a license agreement with Kansas State University Research Foundation ("KSURF") to further develop certain proprietary broad-spectrum antiviral compounds for the treatment of Norovirus and Coronavirus infections. -- On March 6, the Company announced it has initiated its Coronavirus program.

8. Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. (INO)

Inovio, which closed Wednesday's trading at $8.37, is up 153% year-to-date.

News that moves:

-- On January 23, the Company secured a grant of up to $9 million from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations to develop INO-4800, a vaccine against the novel coronavirus. -- On January 30, the Company announced that it is collaborating with Beijing Advaccine Biotechnology Co. to advance the development INO-4800 in China.

On March 3, the Company announced that it intends to begin human clinical trials of INO-4800 in 30 healthy volunteers in the U.S. next month. The Company also plans to produce 1 million doses of INO-4800 COVID-19 DNA vaccine by the end of this year.

It should be noted that no drug has been approved yet for COVID-19. The companies mentioned above are only in the early stage of clinical trials or in the discovery stage. Therefore, utmost caution is required when investing/trading in these stocks as they are only speculative and risky bets.