Among the ares of the market that escaped the ongoing bloodshed on Wednesday, a biotechnology sector-related exchange traded fund stood out on better-than-expected quarterly earnings results and developing vaccines to combat the spreading coronavirus.
The ARK Genomic Revolution Multi-Sector Fund (CBOE: ARKG) is one of the better performing non-leveraged ETFs of Wednesday, rising 0.4%.
Lifting the sector higher, shares of Teladoc Health Inc. (TDOC) hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday after the company revealed a narrower-than-estimated loss and higher Q4 revenues, according to RTTNews.
Teladoc Health Inc. jumped 17.9%, and TDOC makes up 3.9% of ARKG’s underlying portfolio.
“We demonstrated outstanding performance in the fourth quarter and full year of 2019 as we reported record results that were at the high end or exceeded our expectations on all key metrics. Our diversified growth strategies are driving strong growth across our channels,” Jason Gorevic, chief executive officer, said.
Further strengthening the biotech segment, a number of companies were pushing forward with vaccine developments to counter the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19.
For example, Inovio Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: INO) shares jumped 9.8% on Wednesday, INO makes up 3.0% of ARKG’s underlying portfolio.
Inovio is planning an early-stage trial for its anti-COVID-19 vaccine candidate, known as INO-4800, The Motely Fool reports.
In late-January, Inovio Pharmaceuticals was awarded a grant by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations that came with up to $9 million in funding to develop a vaccine against the recently emerged strain of coronavirus.
INO said the initial funding would support pre-clinical and clinical development of INO-4800 through Phase 1 human testing.
“Given the rapid global spread of the 2019-nCoV virus the world needs to act quickly and in unity to tackle this disease. Our intention with this work is to leverage our work with Inovio on the MERS coronavirus and rapid response platform to speed up vaccine development,” Richard Hatchett, CEPI’s CEO, said in a previous note.
For more information on the healthcare segment, visit our healthcare category.