Shares of Immunome Inc. IMNM,
rose 212.6% higher toward new highs on Thursday to accelerate all premarket winners trading on major US stock markets after the biopharmaceutical company said it isolated strong antibodies that are able to neutralize several SARS-CoV variants -2, including the South African variant (B.1.351) in pseudovirus testing. The trading volume was about 506,600 shares, compared to the all-day average of about 117,600 shares. The company has been working on the development of an antibody cocktail (IMM-BCP-001) that can act as a treatment for COVID-19. “Our findings highlight the power of Immunome’s discovery engine to quickly identify antibodies that are generally effective against SARS-CoV-2 and its variants,” said chief executive Purnanand Sarma. We are encouraged by these results and plan to continue efforts to develop these antibodies. The stock, which went public on October 2, 2020, has so far grown by 129.6% by Wednesday, while the IBS iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology IBB ETF,
advanced 10.6% and the S&P 500 SPX,
gained 4.7%.