Watch out: BioNTech, NervGen, Valneva, CureVac: The next waves of biotech stocks are rolling!

BioNTech - Latest plans from Mainz, Germany

According to the pharmaceutical association IFPMA, there are now more Corona vaccine doses available worldwide than can be administered. For the major vaccine manufacturers such as BioNTech, Pfizer and Moderna, this does not have a significant impact due to fixed purchase contracts. Germany has ordered around 554 million vaccine doses from various manufacturers up to 2023, with BioNTech remaining the leading supplier, as it has been since the pandemic outbreak.

After almost 11 billion vaccinations have been administered, there will also be a production of 8 billion doses this year. The much-discussed patent protection should be maintained so that effective research can continue. BioNTech partner Pfizer hopes to offer a new Corona vaccine by the fall, a "Corona broad-spectrum agent" that will protect against severe disease progression and infection for a year, as in influenza. In April, BioNTech entered into an exclusive research collaboration with Matinas BioPharma to develop new formulations for mRNA-based vaccines. So there should be plenty of innovation to come to market here.

The positive analyst opinions are currently piling up for BioNTech because, according to the consensus, the share is trading at just under EUR 160 with a P/E ratio of 4.8 and an average three-year P/S ratio of approx. 3.5. The stock market probably has little confidence in the Mainzers - we do! Continue to buy with a stop at EUR 148. For your safety, add a trailing stop with a distance of about 7% if the share price rises.

NervGen Pharma - Focus on the nervous system

The Canadian Company, NervGen Pharma Corp. from Vancouver, focuses not on vaccinations but on the nervous system. It is currently developing treatments for Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis and other spinal cord injuries. Looking back to the groundbreaking work of Dr. Jerry Silver in the 1990s, NervGen is now building on Silver's technology to achieve the next milestones in therapeutic breakthroughs.

For decades, the biotech industry has been researching Alzheimer's, MS and other nerve-damaging diseases. There has not yet been a paradigm-shifting breakthrough. At NervGen, however, work is now entering an exciting phase because the compound NVG-291 reactivates the self-healing mechanisms of the nervous system. The drug essentially modulates the activity of a molecule that interacts with nerves and promotes natural healing and the growth of new nerve connections. In severe spinal cord injury cases, patients often no longer have control over their bladder or sexual functions; in Alzheimer's disease, sufferers lose important memory functions. There are already promising results in experiments with mice, and the aim is now to gradually transfer them to humans. A phase II trial for multiple sclerosis (MS) is scheduled to start in the first half of 2023.

Currently, the Company has secured Craig Thompson to join its board of directors. Thompson has a long track record in drug development, fundraising, licensing, and M&A. He will oversee the continuation of Phase 1 studies, and efficacy studies 1b/2 this year. NervGen is aiming for a listing on NASDAQ before the end of 2022. The Canadian Company is currently listed on the TSX, the US OTCQX and in Frankfurt. The current market capitalization of CAD 102 million will presumably increase significantly until the NASDAQ listing. Therefore, a first position makes sense at the current level of approx. EUR 1.62.

Valneva versus CureVac - Where are the greater opportunities?

Valneva is an Austrian-French biotech company headquartered in Saint-Herblain. Its main research area is specialty vaccines, including, for example, those against Corona, Lyme disease and cholera. The Company has production facilities in Austria, Scotland and Sweden. Valneva, with its VLA2001 inactivated vaccine, is seen by many people as a beacon of hope in the pandemic because it allows immunization in the conventional way. For months, people have been waiting for the new vaccine against COVID-19 to be approved. The UK has now become the first country to give the Corona vaccine the green light. The responsible regulatory authority, the MHRA, approved its use for people between the ages of 18 and 50 shortly before Easter. Certainly very late in the pandemic cycle. Nevertheless, the Valneva share briefly jumped by over 20% but quickly fell back to the breakout line of EUR 16.5.

The Tübingen-based biopharmaceutical company CureVac has already signed a contract with the German government for the production of Corona vaccines. The agreement gives Berlin access to CureVac's extensive production capacity of up to 80 million vaccine doses, which can be quickly called up for current or future pandemics. CureVac will develop and commercialize its new mRNA vaccines in partnership with pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Initially, a two-year qualification phase is planned to prepare for production. After that, the health ministry will pay an undisclosed fee annually until 2029 to provide production capacity. The contract is intended to reduce the risk of potential supply shortages in a pandemic situation. CureVac began a clinical trial for its new Corona vaccine candidate in late March. Hopefully, it will work this time!

Chart-wise, both Valneva and CureVac have recently failed at their resistances between EUR 17.20 and EUR 17.70. The higher momentum is currently clearly in the Valneva share. CureVac, on the other hand, is technically still in a longer-lasting bottom formation.

Biotech stocks have recently lost some momentum. That is partly due to the previously great euphoria, which led to sharp price falls, especially among latecomers. BioNTech is now considered a standard stock; Valneva and CureVac can always surprise with approvals and new contracts. NervGen Pharma is on course for a NASDAQ listing as a newcomer; the Company already provides many buying arguments due to its extensive pipeline.