Markets have crumpled as the coronavirus spreads around the globe, but eye-catching gains by a handful of stocks show how eager investors are to bet on science that might someday help stop the sickness. First, there is biotechnology giant Gilead Sciences, whose experimental treatment remdesivir has been touted as the best near-term hope for a coronavirus therapy. The drug is already being tested in China, and Gilead plans to start two new trials in roughly 1,000 patients next month. The U.S. is giving the drug to patients being treated in Nebraska, and the timeline for its study was laid out in minute detail Wednesday at a press conference with President Trump and top health officials.
Gilead has been celebrated for its lineup of antiviral drugs, which includes therapies for hepatitis C and HIV that have made the company billions. But sales of its hepatitis C therapies have slowed of late, a victim both of their success in curing many infections and of competition. That's put pressure on Gilead to find new sources of growth. Remdesivir is unlikely to be the answer to those fears. Given the public need, analysts think the drug's sales totals will be limited -- topping out at about $2.5 billion in sum, according to an estimate by Bank of America. Gilead will be pressed to provide it at low or no cost around the world. But that hasn't stopped investors from driving up Gilead shares 17% since they hit a low for the year on Jan. 21. Moderna has been another big winner from the race for answers to the virus. The Massachusetts biotech company went public in late 2018 amid buzz over its experimental personalized cancer treatments. It also has promising technology for developing vaccines, and over the past week its stock has roared as it sped a potential coronavirus inoculation into the lab. Its stock is now up 30% this year. Whether the gains stick remains to be seen -- already, some investors are getting skittish, with Moderna down 12% and Gilead down 2% Thursday as officials emphasized that treatments need to be affordable. Much will hinge on the future course of the coronavirus. But Gilead, Moderna and others who've benefited from the anxiety over the disease will need to show their new fans there are other reasons to stick around.—Tim Annett Here's what else we're watching:Rocky Mountain roadmap. For Democratic presidential candidates contemplating sweeping health-care overhauls, what happens in Colorado over the next few months with the state's push for public health insurance will be instructive. Testing gets tested. Consumer DNA-testing firms are closing up and cutting jobs as privacy hears hinder the once-hot business. Now 23andMe and other giants in the field have to deliver on their health-care promises. Insulin investigation. Senators are dialing up bipartisan pressure on Cigna to cooperate with an investigation of insulin pricing, threatening the insurer with a subpoena. Elsewhere. Cancer drugmaker Iovance Biotherapeutics is exploring a sale. Analysts fear Amarin's stock could crater after a patent decision for its heart drug Vascepa in March. Mallinckrodt reached an opiod pact. Listen up. On the latest season on the Prognosis podcast, we tell how the $4 trillion American health-care system became so expensive and inefficient, and what some people are trying to do about it. Download it here on Apple devices, and here on Android.  Got this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up to get it every Thursday by clicking here.
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