What happened
Shares of Veru (VERU -7.75%) rose by upward of 6% as of 10:23 a.m. ET on Wednesday after it reported in a press release on Tuesday night that it had issued inducement grants to a trio of new employees.
In total, the stock options disbursed by the grants allow for the purchase of a total of 94,450 of the company's shares, which at the current price of $15.76 per share means that the market value of the grants is around $1.49 million. But the options will take a total of three years to vest.
So what
Hiring a few new employees who get juicy compensation packages is a bullish sign for Veru, as it implies that the biotech is expanding its cadre of managers because it strongly expects to be scaling up its operations in the near term. The catalyst for the hiring is doubtlessly the strongly positive results published on July 6 from its phase 3 trial of sabizabulin, a medicine intended to treat moderate to severe cases of COVID-19.
Now what
The biotech is seeking an Emergency Use Authorization for sabizabulin from the Food and Drug Administration, and it's already in the process of building out its manufacturing capacity to prepare for a possible launch quite soon.
Based on its meetings with regulators, Veru won't need to do any additional studies to prove that sabizabulin is both safe and effective for treating COVID-19, which means that the chances of getting a green light from regulators are high.
