SHOOT: Two industries seem set to do well whatever our economic circumstances over the medium term - pharmaceuticals and energy.
Novavax can produce a vaccine from an emergent strain of flu virus in 12 weeks, according to CEO Rahul Singhvi. The company has contacted the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to offer help and is trying to contact the Ministry of Health in Mexico, Singhvi said.
The company uses genetic information and "recombinant, virus-like particle technology" to rapidly engineer a vaccine. Its technology has been proven to work in humans during Phase II trials, Singhvi said, and it might be used in the case of an emergency.
Shares of the two public companies in the firm's portfolio
of eight Pandemic and Bio Defense companies -- BioCryst
Pharmaceuticals (BCRX.O) and Novavax (NVAX.O) -- jumped Friday
on news that the swine flu killed a reported 60 people in
Mexico and has infected people in the United States.
The World Health Organization said the virus appears to be
susceptible to Roche's (ROG.VX) flu drug Tamiflu, also known as
oseltamivir, but not to older flu drugs such as amantadine.
Shares of Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG closed up 3.48
percent after falling sharply earlier in the week on a cancer
drug disappointment, while shares of U.S. biotechnology company
Gilead Sciences Inc (GILD.O), which gets royalties from Roche
on Tamiflu sales, slipped 10 cents to $45.80 on Friday.
But BioCryst, a maker of drugs that block key enzymes in
viral diseases, jumped more than 26 percent on Friday to $2.21
per share. Viral vaccine maker Novavax rose more than 75
percent to $1.42 per share.
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