Evaxion Biotech price target raised to $16 from $14 at H.C. Wainwright

H.C. Wainwright raised the firm’s price target on Evaxion Biotech (EVAX) to $16 from $14 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. The firm notes that as it expected, Merck (MRK) exercised its option to in-license EVX-B3, Evaxion’s discovery-stage vaccine candidate against an undisclosed bacterial pathogen. Wainwright’s positive takeaways are threefold, namely Merck’s option exercise extends Evaxion’s cash runway to the first half of 2027, carrying EVAX through several milestones across its infectious disease and oncology programs; Merck’s decision to extend and expand review of the EVX-B2 program strengthens likelihood that it could choose to in-license the program in the first half of 2026; and this represents the second deal expansion with Merck, already a 20% owner of Evaxion, and thus deepens validation for the company’s AI-Immunology target discovery platform.