A report out of the University of Chicago Medicine suggests a biopharmaceutical company may be a step closer to a COVID-19 treatment.
STAT News first reported that 125 patients were given daily infusions of the drug remdesivir — produced by Gilead Sciences Inc. (Nasdaq: GILD). It was part of Phase 3 clinical trials of the drug.
Of the 125 patients treated by the University of Chicago Medicine team, 113 had advanced symptoms of the virus and nearly all of those patients were discharged in less than a week, STAT reported.
Shares of Gilead Sciences Inc. jumped 11.5% at Friday’s opening bell.
What the COVID-19 Treatment Trial Results Mean
Drug companies around the world have been scrambling to find a vaccine or treatment for the novel coronavirus.
Other trials of remdesivir are being conducted concurrently at the University of Chicago, but no other results have been made publicly available.
“What we can say at this stage is that we look forward to data from ongoing studies becoming available, Gilead officials said in a statement to STAT.
University of Chicago infectious disease specialist Kathleen Mullane said it was too soon to draw many conclusions from the COVID-19 treatment trial.
“It’s always hard. But certainly, when we start the drug, we see fever curves falling,” she said in a video discussion with university faculty members obtained by STAT. “Fever is now not a requirement for people to go on trial. We do see when patients do come in with high fevers, they do reduce quite quickly. We have seen people come off ventilators a day after starting therapy. So, in that realm, overall our patients have done very well.”
Gilead Stock Bounces on COVID-19 Treatment News
The latest results from the COVID-19 treatment trial was certainly good news for Gilead shares.
Since January 2020, Gilead stock has bucked the market downturn and moved 33.3% higher.
The release of the COVID-19 treatment trial results from the University of Chicago pushed shares up 8% on Friday morning.
Prior to the pop, company’s stock traded between $57 and $67 per share in 2019.
Gilead Sciences was one of our 4 Health Care Stocks to Buy in 2020 picks on Monday. If you had bought based on our recommendation, you would already be up more than 11%.
Another encouraging factor for Gilead is while it has seen ups and downs in recent weeks, its share price is still more than 25% higher than its previous low, set back in late January 2020.
Its bounces have also been less dramatic than most other equities.
Currently, Gilead trades at a price to book of 4.7. Add in its price to earnings of 19.6 and the company is a solid value.
On top of that, it also pays a strong dividend to shareholders. Its last payment was $0.68 per share.
The Only Issue Is …
These results are just from one trial. Typically, trials aren’t fully confirmed until data from multiple hospitals are confirmed.
But, Wall Street is looking for any signs of a curb of the coronavirus spread with a COVID-19 treatment.
If other trials of remdesivir show the same results, expect Gilead Sciences’ shares to blast off even higher.
