The biggest stock winners in the US in 2020 have been the small biotech companies moving ahead to develop the Covid-19 vaccine. Inovio Pharmaceuticals stocks (INO) have soared up to 7 times and Vaxart (VXRT) stocks have broken the records with 30 times share value. Investors are expecting to get huge rewards with biotech stocks. We’re bringing here a comparison between two stocks: Inovio and Vaxart. You can review both stocks in detail and pick up the one having better stats.
Vaxart (VXRT)
Vaxart stocks don’t have any pipelined clinical testing. Its oral Covid-19 vaccine was selected for participation in a non-human challenge study by Operation Warp Speed. The company will go ahead with the Phase 1 study in the last months of the year. The oral tablet vaccine candidates have proposed the vaccination which can produce immune system responses in mucous tissues and immune responses. There are ways to produce immunity against SARS-CoV-2 particles that cause COVID-19 disease. This oral vaccination can be stored at room temperature and it is easy to store and transport them than the other forms of vaccines.
Vaxart vaccination has completed the phase 2 study for the oral flu vaccination against influenza. The phase 1 study of oral vaccination was also completed. The company is making preclinical testing efforts with J&J for making the vaccine available for experiments. Vaxart is looking forward to finding candidates to work for coronavirus and seasonal flu vaccines. The company has raised $90M in gross proceeds and the cash (and equivalents) of $30M were reported after Q1.
Inovio is among the first companies to experiment with Covid-19 vaccines in clinical stage testing. The medication INO-4800 is a DNA based vaccine that doesn’t require any special temperature conditions. Last month, the company announced 94% positive results from Phase 1 studies. The experiments went safe in the first phase and the next trials are expected to be conducted after getting a green light from the FDA. INO-4800 has been selected to be a part of NHP (non-human primate) challenge study. The previous pipeline candidate of Inovio was VGX-3100 (before Covid-19 hit) and the drug was being tested at phase 3 level. There are many other evaluations on hold for Inovio as it is primarily working on Covid-19 vaccination. Inovio is at a great financial position and its total cash and investments were $270M at the end of Q1.
Which is better?
Both the stocks are growing well but Vaxart hit a tremendously successful due to its 3000% up-pricing. Inovio, on the other hand, has an advanced pipeline with more cash. Inovio and Vaxart are the best stocks in their way but they have a risky outlook too. Analysts can make the right choice by keeping Vaxart and Inovio on their radar screen.
