What happened
On Thursday, Veru (VERU 22.41%) stock was getting a lot of love from analysts impressed by the latest news from the company. This translated to further gains for the share price, which saw a second consecutive healthy rise -- the stock closed more than 3% higher, outpacing the S&P 500 index's 1.5% improvement.
So what
Veru on Wednesday unveiled data from a phase 3 clinical trial of its COVID-19 drug sabizabulin, and these were highly encouraging. The drug demonstrated a notably high reduction in mortality in high-risk, hospitalized COVID-19 patients, in addition to a significant decline in the number of days such patients spent in the hospital. It was also found to be generally well tolerated with a relatively favorable safety profile.
Immediately following the news, the bulls piled in, with three analysts reiterating their existing buy recommendations on Veru stock.
One of these was H.C. Wainwright's Yi Chen, who pointed out in a new research note that there is currently no treatment authorized or approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with that kind of effect on patient mortality.
"Therefore, sabizabulin has the potential to become the new standard of care for hospitalized moderate-severe COVID-19 patients if its EUA application is granted," he added, referring to Veru's Emergency Use Authorization submission for sabizabulin, which the company filed in early June.
Now what
Momentum Is unquestionably on Veru's side, particularly given the recent rise in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and fatalities in this country. An effective and reliable drug against the disease is very much needed, so we shouldn't be surprised to see the FDA green-light the biotech's EUA application quite soon.
