Inovio Pharmaceuticals shares gained more than 17% in trading Monday after reporting a narrower Q4 loss from the same period a year ago and as it announced receiving a $16 million grant.
INO is trading in the lower half of the 52-week range between $6.33 and $15.56, on heavy volume of 1.6 million shares. Average daily volume is 636,392 shares.
The net loss attributable to common stockholders for the quarter was $7.4 million, or $0.12 per share, compared to $15.5 million or $0.30 per share in the same period a year ago. The loss was wider than the loss of $0.10 predicted by analysts.
Total revenue was $2.5 million, up from $1.7 million in Q4 2013 but short of analyst projections of $5.2 million.
“In 2015 we look forward to our first cancer data, our complete phase II data being published in a peer-reviewed medical journal, advancing the many steps toward our phase III launch, initiating clinical studies for additional diseases, and new corporate development steps,” said Dr. J. Joseph Kim, President and CEO.
Separately, the company said that it and academic collaborators, including the University of Pennsylvania, were awarded a $16 million Integrated Preclinical/Clinical AIDS Vaccine Development Program grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
“The grant will fund research to expand PENNVAX coverage of HIV strains as well as to further enhance antibody responses generated by the vaccine,” Inovio said in a statement.