Roth says BARDA stopping funding for GeoVax COVID trial similar to peers

Roth Capital lowered the firm’s price target on GeoVax Labs (GOVX) to $18 from $20 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares after the company released an 8-K today indicating that four days ago the company received written notification from Advanced Technology International directing GeoVax to stop work on the Phase 2b trial that was to be funded by BARDA and that was to evaluate GEO-CM04S1 COVID-19 vaccine. GeoVax “was not in any way singled out among its peer vaccine developers” that also received BARDA contracts in the $400M range, as two others received a similar notice, says the analyst, who trimmed the firm’s target as a result of removing the near-term revenue that GeoVax was expected to record. Among the six companies receiving COVID-19 vaccine grants valued at roughly $400M, the firm notes that GeoVax, Vaxart (VXRT) and Cyanvac received notices to pause or terminate their BARDA-funded programs and the firm believes Castlevax, Codigenix and Gritstone bio (GRTS) are likely to also receive such notices.