Shares of Dynavax Technologies (NASDAQ:DVAX) jumped 26.4% on Friday following comments by researchers at Sinovac, a Chinese drug developer that's collaborating with Dynavax on a COVID-19 vaccine.
Dynavax is contributing an adjuvant that can boost immune responses in vaccinated patients, while Sinovac is contributing an inactivated coronavirus vaccine candidate.
Dynavax's adjuvant is a synthetic form of DNA that is already used in Dynavax's approved hepatitis B vaccine, Heplisav-B, but that doesn't guarantee it will be similarly effective in helping Sinovac's COVID-19 vaccine succeed.