If you thought monkeypox was a fad, you might want to reconsider. While it isn’t as significant (so far) as other viruses like coronavirus, it is spreading globally. Over the weekend, the World Health Organization inadvertently gave a boost to attention to certain penny stocks, mainly monkeypox stocks.
The WHO declared the monkeypox spread a Global Health Emergency. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the W.H.O.’s director general, overruled a panel of advisers. The panel couldn’t reach a consensus, and Ghebreyesus declared a “public health emergency of international concern.”
This is a designation the W.H.O. uses to describe only two other diseases, which are Covid-19 and polio. “We have an outbreak that has spread around the world rapidly through new modes of transmission, about which we understand too little, and which meets the criteria.”
While monkeypox has been a concern for years in African countries, recent weeks have seen the virus spreading to at least 75 countries. Does this mean preparations for lockdowns, more supply chain disruptions, vaccines, and quarantine? For now, you can shut off the pandemic PTSD.
Today we look at a handful of penny stocks to watch thanks to this latest bout of monkeypox news from the WHO.
Monkeypox Stock To Watch
As we saw with COVID stocks and companies that had developed influenza vaccine candidates, traders are searching for similar drugs that would apply to monkeypox. In many instances, smallpox virus treatments have shown favorable outcomes in treating certain cases of monkeypox. SIGA Technologies (NASDAQ: SIGA) is one of the more popular companies that has seen promise in applying a smallpox platform to monkeypox. SIGA’s TPOXX platform is used in treating smallpox disease caused by the variola virus.
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Monkeypox speculation has helped SIGA stock explode over the last few months. In fact, since May 18th, the price of SIGA has more than doubled, reaching highs of $15.79 earlier this month. Where does that leave other monkeypox stocks? While the virus hasn’t reached millions of cases, thousands of new cases have helped bring bullish speculation to the stock market today.
Monkeypox Penny Stocks For Your June Watch List
Chimerix (NASDAQ: CMRX)
Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE: EBS), another monkeypox stock to watch, bought exclusive worldwide rights to Chimerix’s Tembexa. This is the first FDA-approved antiviral for all age groups for smallpox. In a May update, Paul Williams, SVP government/MCM business at Emergent, explained, “This transaction expands and further diversifies our medical countermeasures business with the addition of a small molecule therapeutic that aligns with the government’s smallpox preparedness strategy.”
This deal includes a 20% royalty on future gross profit of Tembexa in the US linked to volumes above 1.7 million treatment courses. Chimerix said it could obtain a 15% royalty on all gross profit outside of the US associated with the drug sales in the exclusivity period on a market-to-market basis.
The Chimerix pipeline includes other treatment candidates. Drugs targeting gliomas, central nervous system tumors, and other oncology therapies in multiple phases of development.
GeoVax Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOVX)
One of the cheaper monkeypox penny stocks to watch is GeoVax Labs. The company develops vaccines and immunotherapies, but since late May, monkeypox has been the main attraction for traders. Shares of GOVX stock have skyrocketed from lows of $0.55 to as high as $3.38 over the last few months. This week’s resurgence of concern over the disease has put a focus back on GeoVax.
GeoVax’s GV-MVA-VLPTM platform is used to construct vaccine candidates using genetic sequences from viruses. A statement earlier this year has come to focus thanks to GeoVax’s Chief Scientific Officer, Farshad Guirakhoo, Ph.D. He said GeoVax’s platform and mentioned smallpox and monkeypox specifically:
“Perhaps of critical importance is that the viral basis of our vaccine vector (MVA) has more than 50 years of safety records and has been recently approved by the FDA for prevention of smallpox and monkeypox diseases.”
Besides this update, there haven’t been many other monkeypox-related headlines from the company. Nevertheless, it hasn’t stopped traders from speculating on GOVX as one of the monkeypox stocks to watch right now.
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Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: TNXP)
Tonix Pharmaceuticals is riding the monkeypox wave in the stock market today with a nice gap-up on Monday. Shares surged more than 15% from Friday’s close, thanks to WHO-related news over the weekend.
Where does the virus angle come into play? The company’s infectious disease pipeline includes developing a vaccine to prevent smallpox and monkeypox called TNX-801. TNXP stock is on the radar as more cases pop up globally.
This week, Tonix announced the appointment of a new executive vice president of disease research and development. Dr. Sina Bavari will take the lead on growing Tonix’s infectious disease pipeline. Furthermore, in a new 8K filing on Monday, Tonix reported its plans to terminate an agreement with OyaGen.
Earlier this year, the two entered into an exclusive license agreement related to an antiviral inhibitor of SARS-Cov-2. After reassessing long-term commitments, Tonix determined terminating the agreement would be the best course of action and return development & commercialization rights to OyaGen.
Monkeypox Stocks
Keep a few things in mind if you’re looking for monkeypox stocks to buy or at least a few for your watch list. First, like COVID stocks, these are highly speculative. As broader sentiment shifts, so too can momentum in the market. If, for instance, there’s a sharp decline in cases or a viable vaccine can eradicate the threat, that might not bode well for certain monkeypox stocks.
However, as we saw from the weekend WHO news, an uptick in cases or a new designation like a Global Health Emergency can stoke emotions to the bullish side of the coin. Whatever comes next, make sure to have a trading plan in place, so you’re prepared for any scenario.
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