Shares of several companies with coronavirus programs were crushing it on Tuesday. Novavax (NASDAQ: NVAX) stock was skyrocketing 46.1% higher as of 11:36 a.m. EDT. Shares of Co-Diagnostics (NASDAQ: CODX) were jumping by 29.3%. Inovio Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: INO) and MannKind (NASDAQ: MNKD) stocks were up 22.8% and 17.2%, respectively.
Only two of these companies reported new developments. Co-Diagnostics announced on Tuesday that a new policy the Food and Drug Administration released Monday evening will enable the company to "aggressively expand its presence in the U.S. market." This FDA policy will further ease regulations to boost the numbers of COVID-19 tests that are available. MannKind announced that it's partnering with Immix Biopharma to develop a therapy for treating acute respiratory distress syndrome, which is a complication of COVID-19.
Although Novavax and Inovio didn't have announcements, the two biotech stocks benefited from the overall stock market bounce on Tuesday following yet another major sell-off yesterday. Both companies are among the leaders in developing experimental vaccines for the novel coronavirus.