Ebola Sector Shake Out Leaves Chimerix Inc On Top
A market shake-out Monday of companies touting Ebola treatments left Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation (NASDAQ: TKMR) hurting while the fortunes of Chimerix Inc (NASDAQ: CMRX) flared.
Chimerix obtained approval Monday of an emergency application to provide its investigational drug brincidofovir to doctors desperate to treat the current outbreak in West Africa.
"We are hopeful that [it] may offer a potential treatment," Chimerix Chief Executive M. Michelle Berrey said. The company hasn't completed the design of a study to assess its safety and efficacy.
Chimerix spiked sharply earlier Monday, and shares were recently up more than 10 percent.
Tekmira shares gave up gains of last week after Leerink's Michael Schmidt downgraded the company Monday to Market Perform from Outperform on valuation concerns.
Tekmira fell more than 16 percent recently, yet it's still up by more than a third in value during the past four weeks.
BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: BCRX), which is experimenting with a potential Ebola vaccine fell 8 percent Monday, though even counting the recent decline its shares are up 12 percent in the past five trading days.
NewLink Genetics Corp. (NASDAQ: NLNK) fell 7 percent while Sarepta Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: SRPT), Prosensa Holding NV (NASDAQ: RNA) and Hemispherx BioPharma Inc. (NYSE: HEB) were each off by several points.
Latest Ratings for TKMR
Oct 2014 | Leerink Swann | Downgrades | Outperform | Market Perform |
Aug 2014 | Leerink Partners | Initiates Coverage on | Outperform | |
Jul 2014 | Clarus | Initiates Coverage on | Buy |
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