Another year, another disease. May 2022 is turning out to be another eventful month. Apparently, there’s a monkeypox outbreak. Thankfully, this disease has been around for decades and it’s well-documented. On another positive note, there aren’t any recorded deaths due to the illness. What will this do to the stock market? Let’s read about how we can invest in Monkeypox stocks.
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Table of Contents
What Is Monkeypox?
Symptoms include large nymph nodes and lesions to multiple parts of the body. The recovery time is around 2 to 3 weeks.
The disease comes from Africa, but it already spread to many European and North American countries.
Most countries don’t vaccinate for this disease and we might not have any immunity. Good thing we are prepared in case of another pandemic. Many companies have existing and successful programs to deal with this type of disease.
Let’s explore which ones may come on top if the disease begins to affect our communities. As a bonus, we will also explore how companies that offered a COVID vaccine have been doing since the beginning of the pandemic and if they’re invested in a monkeypox vaccine. What does this mean if you want to invest in Monkeypox stocks? Let’s keep reading.
Invest in Monkeypox Stocks
We begin this article with companies with an existing poxvirus program that could be useful if there is an outbreak. In most cases, a smallpox vaccine is effective against monkeypox.
Invest in Monkeypox Stocks With Emergent Biosolutions Inc (NYSE: EBS)
Emergent Biosolutions is a US company based in Maryland. It develops treatments for various diseases and infections as well as medical devices. The stock gained momentum during the early COVID days thanks to manufacturing contracts for the Astra Zeneca and J&J vaccines.
Unfortunately, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) uncovered that the ingredients were mixed between both vaccines. They may not be thorough, but they have the infrastructure to produce vaccines in large doses.
The company is also well-positioned in case of an eventual outbreak. It has the only one-dose smallpox vaccine allowed by the FDA. Furthermore, Emergent acquired the rights to another smallpox cure from fellow competitor Chimerix (NASDAQ: CMRX).
This puts Emergent in a good position to deal with an eventual crisis. So keep this in mind if you want to invest in Monkeypox stocks.
Invest in Monkeypox Stocks With SIGA Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: SIGA)
SIGA is another US company based in New York with an FDA-approved smallpox medication. One major difference is its product, Tpoxx, is already approved in Europe to treat smallpox and monkeypox. SIGA also got its intravenous version of the medication approved by the FDA earlier this month.
Since the number of cases has been rising, the US and the EU already requested SIGA to produce and distribute a small number of doses in case of an outbreak. Since, the stock rose.
Unfortunately, this might be short-lived if cases stay contained. So keep that in mind when you go to invest in Monkeypox stocks.
Bavarian Nordic A/S (OTCMKTS: BVNRY)
Bavarian Nordic is a Danish biotech company. It focused on the development, manufacturing, and commercialization of various vaccines. The company has an approved product in Europe, Canada, and the US. It is efficient against monkeypox.
The company received an order from a mysterious Europe country to combat the spread of the disease. It seems many countries are taking preventive measures to combat another potential epidemic.
The markets reacted positively to this news for the company. The stock rose, but it might be short-lived once again unless a real epidemic occurs.
Final Word on Monkeypox Stocks
Before investing in any of these stocks, it’s important to establish that although monkeypox is contagious, it is not deadly. It’s not a pleasant experience, but the symptoms will be gone after 2-3 weeks.
Most countries decided not to vaccinate their people for decades because the disease is mostly found in Africa. However, if countries worldwide decide to push a vaccine, many companies will benefit since it can be produced easily.
Until there is a concrete decision or action plan, the stock price of any relevant company will continue to be very volatile. Unless diverse products are in the pipeline, it isn’t worth a significant investment. A monkeypox YOLO investment isn’t suggested. Invest with caution.
COVID Stocks
This section will revisit many COVID pharmaceutical stocks that benefited from the pandemic.
Do they have a vaccine ready against monkeypox, and how has their stock performed since the vaccine rollout? Let’s find out.
What will this mean if you want to invest in Monkeypox stocks?
Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA)
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Moderna’s stock gained more than 600%. The Pharmaceutical and biotech company can produce hundreds of millions of COVID doses yearly.
Many governments around the world stopped caring about the pandemic. Life goes on. Vaccination is no longer mandatory at the moment.
However, once the summer months pass and winter settles again, cases might go back up. It will be interesting to see how governments respond to a new variant or another wave.
Moderna + Monkeypox
Can Moderna benefit from another outbreak? Unfortunately, the company doesn’t have an existing monkeypox vaccine. Fortunately, Moderna announced they have something on a ‘’pre-clinical” level.
Since the disease has been around for decades, releasing something in a few weeks shouldn’t be too difficult. Will governments turn to this giant once again, or will smaller competitors with existing proven products come on top? Only time will tell.
Pfizer (NYSE: PFE)
Unlike Moderna, Pfizer saw much more modest growth since the pandemic’s beginning, less than 50%. One of the reasons is a much smaller production capacity than Moderna, less than half.
Another reason is that it was deemed less efficient. I won’t get into the specifics. As for a monkeypox vaccine, Pfizer doesn’t have an existing one, and there isn’t any news about one in the works.
Instead, the company is concentrating on its COVID vaccine for toddlers and ramping up production for the next wave. The company is concentrating on its bread and butter.
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ)
We conclude this section with Johnson & Johnson. The 19th-century pharma company shocked many with its one-dose vaccine that wasn’t as effective as its counterparts.
In response, the markets didn’t respond as positively. The company has been around for decades and has diverse products in many health categories. Its COVID vaccine is only a part of its success. As a result, many analysts are quite bullish on JNJ.
As for a monkeypox cure, JNJ doesn’t have any at the moment or in the works. However, they are not succumbing to the hype until a need arises.
Conclusion
To conclude, there doesn’t seem to be a real urgency to combat monkeypox. Cases are rising very slowly, but it isn’t a deadly disease. A vaccine plan doesn’t seem to be in the works unless there is a major development.
Some smaller pharmaceutical and biotech companies have an existing product, but major players seem to concentrate on more useful products. So, for now, monkeypox stocks can be a good day trading option, but it isn’t a long-term play.
As for COVID stocks, they may be around for a few more quarters. It all depends on when governments stop caring and live with it. Pharma stocks are always tricky since the demand isn’t constant for all products. Some periods are better than others, depending on the demand.
