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Tekmira continues to soar in extended trading after rumors surfaced that big pharmaceuticals like GSK and Shire are looking to acquire the Canada-based pharmaceutical
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Published: August 28, 2014 at 8:26 am ESTBy: Hannah Ishmael
Click Ticker to See live coverage TKMR GSK SHPG SRPT FUJIY BCRX ITMN RHHBY
Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation ( TKMR) is up about 10% during pre-market trading following rumors that the pharmaceutical company is up for a takeover. The report published by the Daily mail, UK suggests that at least four major pharmaceuticals are looking to acquire the Vancouver-based company, two of which could be GlaxoSmithKline plc (ADR) ( GSK) and Shire PLC (ADR) ( SHPG).
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While the news is unconfirmed, investors appear to have taken it seriously and sent Tekmira stock soaring in pre-market trading to reach $21.72, a gain of almost 10%, as of 8:04 am EDT.
Ebola Virus: UpdateEbola is one of the largest viral outbreaks in history. It started in a village in Guinea in December last year. The disease was, however, detected much later in March this year, and declared a Public Health Emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO) in the same month. The virus initially causes vomiting, diarrhea, and headaches while affecting liver and kidney function and causing internal bleeding.
The disease is highly contagious, and has spread to three other Western African countries apart from New Guinea, including Liberia and Sierra Leone, and a few cases in Nigeria as well. According to a report by the WHO, as of August 20, there were 2,615 individuals in West Africa who had been infected, while the death toll had reached 1,427.
There is currently no cure for the disease but a handful of companies such as Tekmira are in the process of developing drugs and vaccines for the virus.
Cure For Ebola: Still A Long Way To GoApart from Tekmira, companies competing to develop a cure for Ebola include Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc, Sarepta Therapeutics Inc. ( SRPT), Toyama Chemical Co., Ltd, which is owned by FUJIFILM Holdings Corp. (ADR) ( FUJIY) and BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ( BCRX).
Mapp is at the forefront of the race, as 12 doses of its experimental drug ZMapp have already been sent to West Africa, after the WHO declared on August 12 that it was ethical to use unapproved drugs on patients whose only other option is to die of the virus.
ZMapp has not been tested on humans yet but was administered to two American UN health workers. Both patients recovered and were recently released from an Atlanta hospital. However, a Liberian Doctor died after being administered ZMapp, casting doubts on the drug’s efficacy. In any case, ZMapp is far from completing human trials and is also severely constrained in terms of its ability to manufacture sufficient doses for thousands of people.
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