Here's Why Inovio Pharmaceuticals Jumped 18% Today

Shares of Inovio Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: INO) closed up 18% on Wenesday after Jim Cramer gave the vaccine maker a shout-out on his Mad Money show yesterday. Fellow COVID-19 vaccine-maker Moderna Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: MRNA) closed up 4% on the day. https://www.thestreet.com/jim-cramer/oil-rout-spooks-stocks-cramers-mad-money-april-21

Inovio is developing a COVID-19 vaccine called INO-4800 that entered a phase 1 clinical trial earlier this month. Data from Inovio's study is expected by late summer, so it isn't readily apparent why investors would be buying today other than Cramer's call-out. Moderna is a little ahead of Inovio, so it should have data before Inovio.

Inovio and Moderna were able to develop their vaccines quicker than the large pharmaceutical companies, such as Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), which won't start a clinical trial until September, because their vaccines use patients' cells to express the protein vaccine, eliminating the need for developing a new manufacturing system like Johnson & Johnson. Inovio's vaccine uses DNA to express the protein, while Moderna's mRNA-1273 uses RNA.

Source Fool.com