As the coronavirus outbreak continues to spread throughout the world, investors have been loading up on shares of companies working on treatment or prevention. Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD) rose as much as 29% this year, but has since given up some gains and is now up 11%. Vir Biotechnology (NASDAQ: VIR) stock has surged 170% in the same time.
Gilead is the maker of remdesivir, the drug that recently received emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of severe coronavirus cases. Vir has partnered with pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) to pursue the discovery of antibodies to fight the coronavirus.
Image source: Getty Images.