What happened
Shares of COVID-19 Fax Companies Dynavax Technologies (NASDAQ: DVAX), Heat Biologics (NASDAQ: HTBX), en Inovio Pharma (NASDAQ: INO) all opened Tuesday’s trading session with more than 10%. While company specifications differ, the central theme behind these declining movements seems to be the news that Russia has approved the first COVID-19 vaccine in the world, today named Sputnik-V.
In response to this unexpected news, the shares of Heat Biologics are currently down 11.8%, the share of Dynavax is down 9.7%, and the share of Inovio Pharmaceuticals is in the red by a remarkable 21% from 10:13 am EDT Tuesday.
Image Source: Getty Images.
So what
Dynavax, Heat Biologics, and Inovio Pharmaceuticals were all hoping to become major players in the COVID-19 vaccine landscape. However, investors seem to be taking this Russian fax success to heart, perhaps because President Putin announced that one of his daughters had received the fax.
Putin’s claims that the vaccine is “reasonably effective” and that it “forms stable immunity” are at least dubious. The fact of the matter is that this vaccine has not undergone the rigorous clinical testing – such as regulatory review – that is necessary to support such a bold statement regarding its effectiveness as safety. Underscoring this point, CNN reported that Russia did not release any real data to secure these claims.
Well what
The big picture is that there is little chance that this Russian vaccine candidate will undergo one of the COVID-19 treatments in development in Western nations, such as the United States or United Kingdom. This seems to be a political move to position Russia as a scientific powerhouse. Nothing more.
As such, these double-digit movements in the shares of Dynavax, Heat Biologics, and Inovio Pharmaceuticals, in response to this Russian vaccine news, argument are unjustified. Therefore, bargain hunters may take advantage of this weakness in each of these biotech files today.
