Coronavirus Penny Stocks To Watch Right Now
This week, coronavirus stocks are back in focus and none more exciting than coronavirus penny stocks. The small-cap equities have captivated headlines since January. This is both for their potential game-changing treatments and potential for big breakouts. The name of the game has been to find opportunities early.
[Special Report] The Biggest Market Opportunity Of 2020: Coronavirus
While many of the first coronavirus penny stocks have actually ended up rallying well-beyond the range of penny stock prices, the next wave has begun to take hold. This time investors are searching for names that have vaccines in the pipeline.
Obviously, the timetable for an approved vaccine could be much longer than the initial treatments. But right now, any company getting in touch with the FDA is gaining attention. So with this, and new coronavirus cases it may be worth it to have a list of coronavirus penny stocks put together right now.
Top Penny Stocks To Watch: Algernon Pharmaceuticals Inc.
First, Algernon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (AGN)(AGNPF) is one of the companies that has just started gaining attention for a COVID-19 related treatment. The company’s focus has been on a number of diseases including non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, chronic kidney disease, inflammatory bowel disease, and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. It’s this last disease that has lead to the blossoming of a new, potential treatment for COVID-19 infected patients.
While its drug, Ifenprodil, brand name Cerocal, was initially developed by Sanofi in the 1990s in the French and Japanese markets for the treatment of circulatory disorders, Algernon has found it to be potentially viable for respiratory diseases. To this end, the company has made a big announcement on Monday.
The clinical stage pharmaceutical development company announced that it has received positive feedback from the U.S. FDA regarding plans to conduct a phase 2 COVID-19 clinical trial using its repurposed drug NP-120 (Ifenprodil). The company also announced the appointment of U.S. Ambassador (Rtd) Howard Gutman, former United States Ambassador to Belgium, to the Company’s newly created Business Advisory Board. This comes on the heals of its last update that a regulatory submission has been made to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in South Korea for an investigator-led Phase 2 COVID-19 study of its re-purposed drug Ifenprodil.
“We are very pleased with the expedited response we received from the FDA on our pre-IND application,” said Christopher J. Moreau CEO of Algernon. “This is the first time Ifenprodil has been presented to the FDA in a formal process and their response was very encouraging.” Read more on Algernon here.
Top Penny Stocks To Watch: Biocryst Pharmaceuticals
Biocryst Pharmaceuticals (BCRX) has been another one of the top penny stocks to watch handling COVID-19 treatment. The company’s Galidesivir has been well-tolerated in Phase 1 studies for a broad spectrum of antiviral applications. In its last update, the company announced that it has opened enrollment into a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. This will be to assess the safety, clinical impact and antiviral effects of galidesivir in patients with COVID-19.
The trial is being funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health. The company said that, “In the COVID-19 trial, efficacy measures include time to clinical improvement, time to hospital discharge, time to undetectable levels (as measured by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in respiratory specimens) of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and all-cause mortality.”
Shares managed to jump to highs of $3.17 during premarket trading. However, during the early part of the trading session on Monday, BCRX stock pulled back from those highs, at the open.
Top Penny Stocks To Watch: SCWorx Corp.
At the time we began putting this together, shares of SCWorx Corp (WORX) were trading around $2.60. However, they have since skyrocketed after the company’s latest news. Before we get into that, it’s important to understand what SCWorx does. The company created what’s known as The Ultraverse Platform™. This is an advanced attributed virtualized item data warehouse. So essentially, the company works with customers to help with all facets of supply chains.
However, this week the focus is on COVID-19 for the company. In its latest update the company announced that it has received a committed purchase order from Rethink My Healthcare. Rethink is a U.S.-based virtual healthcare network. The deal is for two million COVID-19 Rapid Testing Units, with provision for additional weekly orders of 2 million units for 23 weeks, valued at $35M per week. SCWorx will supply Rethink My Healthcare with IgM/IgG Rapid Detection Kits and anticipates receiving the first 2 million kits within approximately two weeks.
In March the company formed a new subsidiary to work directly with healthcare systems, Direct-Worx. “As normal supply chains have substantially broken down due to the coronavirus pandemic, SCWorx founded Direct-Worx based on a substantial volume of requests from its clients to assist with the acquisition of much-needed supplies necessary to protect their workers and for the safety of their patients,” the company said.
