- Virpax Pharmaceuticals stock rocketed up 292% during Tuesday's session following an update about a potential virus treatment.
- Virpax said an FDA response clarifies how it will move forward in developing a prophylactic treatment against SARS and flu.
- Virpax jumped above $16 a share to reach its highest price since trading began in February.
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Shares of Virpax Pharmaceuticals nearly quadrupled in value on Tuesday, hitting their highest price since they started trading this year after the company said a response from the Food and Drug Administration has provided clarity in how to proceed in developing a potential product to protect against SARS and influenza.
Virpax said it received a written pre-investigational new drug response from the drug regulator about MMS019, a high-density molecular masking spray it is developing for use as an anti-viral barrier product. The company said it believes the results of the pre-IND response support further research on MMS019 as an intranasal protective that may limit virus transmissions and that it expects to pursue a new drug application for MMS019 as a once-daily intranasal treatment.
Virpax shot up as much as 292% to $16.48, the highest price since the stock began trading in mid-February, before paring gains to a still whopping 214%. Volume was heavy, with at least 136 million shares traded compared with 65-day average volume of 2.2 million shares.
"We believe that the initial pathway to move forward with the development of MMS019 has been clarified," Anthony Mack, Virpax's CEO, said in a statement. "As our development program proceeds, we will define the strategy for our drug-device combination product candidate, MMS019, for use in an over-the-counter setting as we look to support a consumer-friendly OTC indication."
Virpax said it's hired Syneos Health to assist with clinical trial design.
Virpax has said previous studies of MMS019 have demonstrated inhibition of viral replication of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza in animals at higher ranges than what's encountered by humans in the nasal passages. There were no adverse effects observed, it said.