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Drugmakers Target Coronavirus Vaccine in 2020: 4 Stocks in Focus

On Jun 5, British drugmaker AstraZeneca started manufacturing the University of Oxford’s potential coronavirus vaccine ahead of trial results and has doubled its capacity to two billion doses.

The company said that it won’t wait for clinical results, which it expects in August. Also, on Jun 6, President Donald Trump claimed that the country has already procured two million vaccine doses for the coronavirus disease that are “ready to go” if they “check out for safety.”

Although a treatment for COVID-19 is yet to be found, a large number of drugmakers and biotech companies have made remarkable progress in developing a vaccine over the past couple of months. Of these, some have started ramping up production, anticipating huge demand if the candidates prove successful.

AstraZeneca Pushes Production

AstraZeneca, which has already agreed to provide the U.K. and the United States with doses, said it has secured agreements to supply the vaccine to low and middle-income countries through health organizations, including two backed by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. The White House last month secured 300 million of the first doses of the potential vaccine in a deal that also committed more than $1 billion in backing to testing and manufacturing.

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The pharmaceutical giant began human trials of the vaccine in April in Oxford, with scientists expecting to have some indication over whether the vaccine works by July. Now that the company has ramped up production, the vaccine could be available in the U.K. and United States by September if the trial proves successful.

Trump Raises Vaccine Hopes

Although a COVID-19 vaccine is far from reality, many have started expecting a cure by the end of this year. On Jun 6, Trump claimed that the United States has already procured two million vaccine doses for the coronavirus disease and will be ready for distribution once the test results are successful.

According to The New York Times, the Trump administration has shortlisted five companies that could most likely develop a vaccine for the coronavirus disease. The National Institutes of Health has also accelerated its work in collaboration with biotech firm Moderna, Inc. MRNA on a potential vaccine to prevent COVID-19.

Race to Find Vaccine Continues

Last month, Moderna, Inc. said that its experimental COVID-19 vaccine, the first to be tested in the United States, produced protective antibodies in a small group of healthy volunteers. A number of biotech companies and pharmaceutical giants have joined forces to develop and manufacture vaccine for treating the novel coronavirus.

In March, Sanofi (SNY) and GlaxoSmithKline plc GSK collaborated to expedite the development of a vaccine for the Wuhan virus. Sanofi recently said that if successful, the vaccine would be available in the second half of 2021. German pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, Inc. PFE, which is working in collaboration with BioNTech SE BNTX, recently said that a coronavirus vaccine could be ready for emergency use as early as September.

In May, Moderna had said that it could start manufacturing its yet-unconfirmed COVID-19 vaccine as early as July after it entered a 10-year deal with Swiss contract drugmaker Lonza.

A lot of money is being pumped in by biotech companies and drugmakers in the research and development of a vaccine for the novel coronavirus. Given this scenario, keeping a close eye on stocks focused on developing a coronavirus vaccine or treatment would be a wise decision.

Gilead Sciences GILD, last month, received an emergency-use authorization from the FDA based on preliminary results from two clinical trials: one conducted by the NIAID, and one by Gilead. The company’s expected earnings growth rate for next year is 3.1%. Its shares have rallied 18.1% year to date. Gilead has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

GlaxoSmithKline plc has announced a string of wide-reaching collaborations during the pandemic, most notably with Sanofi. The company expects to launch clinical trials in the second half of the year. The expected earnings growth rate for next year is 1.4%. Its shares have gained 4.8% in the past year. GlaxoSmithKlinehas a Zacks Rank #2.

Amgen, Inc. AMGN and Adaptive, Inc. ADPT have collaborated to work on antibodies that can be used to prevent or treat COVID-19. Amgen also plans to test Otezla as a COVID-19 therapy treating respiratory distress in late-stage patients in the coming days. Amgen’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 5.1%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 0.2% over the past 60 days. Amgen carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

BioNTech SE hascollaborated with Pfizer to develop a vaccine for coronavirus. The 360 patients in the U.S. trial started to receive the first doses of the four vaccine candidates included in the study as of May 5. Dosing in 200 participants in the German trial began on Apr 23.

The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 15.8%. Shares of BioNTech SEhave jumped 29.1% in the past three months. BioNTech has a Zacks Rank #3.

5 Stocks Set to Double

Each was hand-picked by a Zacks expert as the #1 favorite stock to gain +100% or more in 2020. Each comes from a different sector and has unique qualities and catalysts that could fuel exceptional growth.

Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar, which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor.

Today, See These 5 Potential Home Runs >>

Click to get this free report Pfizer Inc. (PFE) : Free Stock Analysis Report Gilead Sciences, Inc. (GILD) : Free Stock Analysis Report Moderna, Inc. (MRNA) : Free Stock Analysis Report GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) : Free Stock Analysis Report Amgen Inc. (AMGN) : Free Stock Analysis Report Adaptive Biotechnologies Corporation (ADPT) : Free Stock Analysis Report BioNTech SE Sponsored ADR (BNTX) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research