Valneva, Novavax, Manganese X Energy: The new pandemic fighters?

Manganese X Energy: Newcomer with an interesting mix

The share of Manganese X Energy Corp. has been listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange for a relatively short time and is probably only known to a few investors. However, the diversified business model offers a lot of fantasy at an attractive valuation. The market capitalization of the Canadian Company is currently a manageable CAD 36 million. Manganese wants to contribute to the fight against the Corona pandemic with a new type of air purification. To this end, Disruptive Battery Corp, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Manganese X, plans to buy a patent for the circulation of air disinfectants and develop products based on it. The invention represents a method for reducing microbial contamination using HVAC cleaning systems inside a building. The field of application is vast and should also provide significant sales opportunities once the battle against COVID-19 is won.

In addition, Manganese X is active in other exciting industries. Among other things, it is currently the only publicly-traded Company in North America seeking to commercialize a prospective manganese deposit. The 1,228-hectare Battery Hill metal project is located in New Brunswick, just 12 km from the US border - a key sales market. The NI 43-101 technical report is already available, indicating an estimated 2.5% manganese FE resource of approximately 60 million tonnes. In addition, Manganese X owns a 2,568-hectare copper-nickel-cobalt property in Quebec. Both projects are promising.

Valneva: Criticism from Great Britain

Valneva is looking to shake up the vaccine market dominated by BioNTech and Moderna with a so-called dead vaccine. After initial positive study results and the start of the approval test had caused euphoria among investors, the mood has changed in recent days. A study in the UK last week caused uncertainty. In this study, the booster effect of various vaccines was tested. On this basis, the British have increased their vaccine stocks and ordered 54 million doses from BioNTech and 60 million doses from Moderna. Valneva had performed less well in the booster study. The Company commented on this in a detailed statement.

"The setting of the study leads us to believe that COV-Boost is not indicative of the use of VLA2001 as a booster in a real-world setting. The threshold for protective antibodies has not yet been established, so a relative increase in antibody levels should not be considered an indicator of efficacy," said Juan Carlos Jaramillo, chief medical officer of Valneva. "I agree with Professor Faust's comments that the data describe the immune response at 28 days, not the efficacy of the vaccine and that the relationship between this response and long-term protection is poorly understood, especially since several studies have shown that longer periods between vaccine doses improve the immune response." Investors, however, were not yet reassured by this. Perhaps a new analysis by the editors of researchanalyst.com, who took a closer look at the stock, will do just that.

Is Novavax winning the race against Valneva?

No inactivated vaccine has yet received final approval, but it appears Novavax is winning the race against Valneva. The Company filed for approval of its vaccine in mid-November and expects approval in a few weeks. Novavax reported 90% efficacy and has already signed supply contracts for 100 million doses with the European Union for 2022. There is also an option for another 100 million doses in 2023. Inactivated vaccines are also expected to bring new momentum to vaccination campaigns in the United States and Europe. They should help convince vaccination opponents to vaccinate. Many vaccination opponents argue that the vaccines from BioNTech and Moderna are based on the relatively new mRNA technology, which has not yet been sufficiently researched.

The orders from the EU and the UK show that the fight against COVID-19 will keep us busy until at least 2023. Accordingly, stocks from this sector remain interesting. Novavax, Valneva and Manganese X are unlikely to be too late to generate significant sales around the Corona pandemic.