Summary
- iBio has broken below a key technical level.
- The company is behind over 20 other names in COVID-19 vaccine development.
- iBio has done well to raise cash, at least $45 million in gross proceeds, but the market cap is currently $296.5 million and the company's vaccines are preclinical.
iBio Inc. (IBIO) benefited from the COVID-19 pandemic in February, just like it benefited from the Ebola pandemic in 2014. Fair enough, the company has technology useful in developing vaccines. The name is well off the highs now, however, and broke below a key technical level recently. The Ebola rally didn't last, and it doesn't look like the COVID-19 rally will either. I take a look at the current situation in this article.
Figure 1: Year-to-date trading for IBIO
Data by YChartsSource: YCharts
IBIO-201 and IBIO-200 are still preclinical
On August 10, IBIO announced data from preclinical testing in mice with IBIO-201, one of the company's COVID-19 vaccine candidates. These data do describe an antibody and T-cell response to IBIO-201, but there is something concerning about the press release. As Alex Sirois at Investor Place notes, there isn't actually any confirmation of planned trials for IBIO-201 in humans in the press release, and there are over 20 other vaccines from other companies already in human trials. The IBIO-200 program was announced on March 18, but since that time, there also has not been any confirmation of human trials on that agent. IBIO has a "goal of producing a safe and effective vaccine for COVID-19 disease." I like the goal, but IBIO is well behind many players at this point. It doesn't seem surprising that the name has sold off in recent weeks.
