Sorrento Therapeutics shares rocket again after Covid-19 pre-clinical trial

Stock in Sorrento Therapeutics is pushing higher on the back of the positive pre-clinical trial results announced last Friday for its STI-1499 antibody against Covid-19.

On 15 May the biotechnology outfit said the antibody had shown 100% inhibition against infections of healthy cells following four days of incubation and that the full results of its experiment would soon be submitted to a peer-reviewed publication.

The news sent shares of the San Diego based firm 158% higher at the close giving it a market capitalisation of $1.37bn.

It was the most heavily traded issue on US exchanges rising by over 240% at one point in the session, during which approximately 364.8m changing hands.

As of 1325 GMT they were adding a further 32.1%.

On 8 May, Sorrento had inked a partnership with Mt. Sinai Health Systems in New York to develop a drug cocktail, to help protect "those most at risk", such as healthcare workers, "for up to two months at a time".

The company expected to be able to produce as many as 200,000 per month and would manufacture 1.0m "at risk" while it sought approval from the Food and Drug Administration for any STI-1499 product candidate.

"The Company is seeking potential government support and pharmaceutical partners to further scale up STI-1499 manufacturing capacity with a goal of potentially providing tens of millions of doses in a short period of time to meet the vast projected demand."