Why Investors Are Excited About This New Immunotherapy COVID-19 Study

By Chris Lange Published Jul 7, 10:56AM EDT

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Why Investors Are Excited About This New Immunotherapy COVID-19 Study — © Jacob Wackerhausen / Getty Images

Corvus Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: CRVS) watched the COVID-19 stock bump play out in Tuesday’s session as this company joins the ever-growing list of coronavirus stocks. In this case, Corvus is initiating an early-stage study in patients with COVID-19.

Specifically, Corvus has initiated a Phase 1 study to investigate a novel immunotherapy approach for patients with COVID-19. This comes after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) review and acceptance of the firm’s investigational new drug (IND) application for the COVID-19 study.

Corvus is studying an agonistic (immunostimulatory) humanized monoclonal antibody, CPI-006, which has demonstrated a potential new approach to immunotherapy of infectious diseases and cancer.

In both in vitro and in vivo studies in cancer patients, CPI-006 has demonstrated binding to various immune cells and the inducement of a humoral adaptive immune response: B cell activation and lymphocyte trafficking leading to the production of antigen-specific immunoglobulin (IgM and IgG) antibodies. In simpler terms, CPI-006 has been proven to produce an immune response.

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Corvus has had some success with CPI-006 in the past with a couple of cancer studies. In these studies, CPI-006 was well tolerated and was able to produce an immune response.

The potential as an immunotherapy treatment for COVID-19 could be tremendous. Although this is only an early-stage study, it is very possible that the FDA would fast track this if the results are strong.

Excluding Tuesday’s move, Corvus Pharmaceuticals stock had underperformed the broad markets, with a retreat of about 50% year to date. However, over the past quarter, the stock was actually up about 36%.

The shares traded up about 120% on Tuesday, at $6.03 in a 52-week range of $1.01 to $6.43. The consensus price target is $8.60.

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About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.