Shares of
Vir Biotechnology
VIR
jumped following the news of the company’s inclusion in the S&P SmallCap 600 effective prior to the opening of trading on Apr 4.
The company will replace
Matador Resources Co
.
MTDR
in the index.
Matador will replace Camden Property Trust in the S&P MidCap 400.
The news encouraged investors and led to the surge in the share price as any fund buying that index will be buying the stock. This will result in investors’ gain.
Last week, Vir Biotechnology suffered a setback when the company and partner
GlaxoSmithKline plc
GSK
announced that the FDA has amended the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for their investigational monoclonal antibody sotrovimab.
The FDA’s decision to limit the EUA for Glaxo/Vir Biotechnology’s antibody therapy is based on new data, which showed that it was unlikely for sotrovimab 500 mg dose to be effective against the dominant Omicron BA.2 variant.
Sotrovimab is an investigational SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing monoclonal antibody. It has been authorized for emergency use in the United States and has been granted marketing authorization in the European Union, conditional marketing authorization in the U.K.
The revision will impact sales. Vir Biotechnology reported collaboration revenues of $917.2 million in 2021, driven by its profit-sharing arrangement with GSK for the sale of sotrovimab under the company’s 2020 collaboration agreement with GSK. Collaboration revenues reflect the delivery of approximately 90% of the more than 750,000 sotrovimab doses sold in 2021.
Following the revision, both Glaxo and Vir Biotechnology are in the process of preparing a data package that will support the use of a higher dose of sotrovimab against the BA.2 subvariant.
Shares of Vir Biotechnology have plunged 38.1% in the year so far compared with the
industry
’s 11.2% fall.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The company is also developing VIR-2218 and VIR-3434 for chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV). Another pipeline candidate in the company’s pipeline is VIR-1111, an investigational subcutaneously administered HIV T cell vaccine based on human cytomegalovirus.
Additionally, in December, Vir Biotechnology and
Gilead Sciences, Inc
.
GILD
initiated a phase II study. This study is evaluating the various combinations of VIR-2218, selgantolimod (GS-9688), Gilead’s investigational TLR-8 agonist and nivolumab, an approved PD-1 inhibitor, as a potential functional cure regimen for chronic HBV infection. Vir Biotechnology and Gilead retain full rights to their individual product candidates and will discuss the potential path forward for any future combination studies based on the outcome of the phase II study.
Vir Biotechnology currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see
the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here
.
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