Dynavax Technologies reported positive results in 153 adults aged 18 years to 55 years for Part A of the Phase-1 clinical trial of Valneva SE’s inactivated COVID-19 vaccine candidate, VLA2001, that uses Dynavax’s CpG 1018 adjuvant. An adjuvant is a substance that improves the efficacy of a vaccine and enhances the response of the immune system to the presence of an antigen.
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Shares of the biopharma company, Dynavax Technologies (DVAX), were up 3.2% in pre-market trading on April 6.
Dynavax’s CEO, Ryan Spencer said, “We are excited to see the positive results Valneva has generated with their inactivated vaccine using Dynavax’s CpG 1018 adjuvant. We believe the effect delivered by our CpG 1018 adjuvant combined with Valneva’s existing manufacturing process for whole virus inactivated vaccines will result in an important option in the global fight against COVID-19.”
“This platform has potential to allow rapid modifications to the vaccine as needed to address variants using Valneva’s existing manufacturing process,” Spencer added. (See Dynavax Technologies Corp stock analysis on TipRanks)
Valneva plans to commence a pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial by the end of April this year subject to regulatory approvals based on these positive results. Valneva also reported that “VLA2001 was generally safe and well tolerated across all dose groups tested and was highly immunogenic with a seroconversion rate for S-protein binding IgG antibodies of 100% in the high dose group.”
Last month, H.C Wainwright analyst Edward White reiterated a Buy and a price target of $16 (62.6% upside potential) on the stock. White said in a note to investors, “Dynavax currently has four collaborations in place that are focused on developing COVID-19 vaccines. It expects CpG 1018 adjuvant sales could be in the range of $40-60M for 1Q21.”
The rest of the Street is bullish about the stock with a Strong Buy consensus rating. That’s based on 3 analysts suggesting a Buy. The average analyst price target of $16.67 implies around 69.4% upside potential to current levels.
According to TipRanks data, financial Bloggers are 88% bullish on DVAX stocks based on the opinions of 9 bloggers.
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