ILLUSTRATION of hantavirus testing concept with laboratory tubes containing cotton swabs and HANTAVIRUS labels photographed in front of a public domain related hantavirus-related thumbnail image released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Paris, France, May 8, 2026.
Joao Luiz Bulcao | Afp | Getty Images
The hantavirus outbreak caused a brief rise in the stocks of companies working to develop a vaccine, but the shares were unable to sustain their early gains.
The World Health Organization has flagged an outbreak of hantavirus, a deadly respiratory disease spread by rodents, on May 2, after some passengers caught it on the Dutch-flagged cruise ship MV Hondius, which was sailing the Atlantic.
The public health risk of the virus is low, according to the WHO and other health authorities who have noted that human transmission is rare.
Which pharma and biotech stocks are rising?
Biotech company Modernwhich makes up one of the main Covid-19 vaccines, rose less than 1% after it said it was conducting pre-clinical research on the virus. Shares rose to $59.48 earlier in the session.
“Moderna has conducted preliminary research on Hantaviruses in collaboration with the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), demonstrating the continued regional impact of these viruses,” said a statement to CNBC.
“These efforts are in their early stages and are ongoing and demonstrate Moderna’s commitment to developing strategies to combat emerging infectious diseases.”
Evercore ISI said last week that it would not be a revenue opportunity for Moderna in the hantavirus case.
Moderna is underperforming year to date compared to several other pharma stocks.
“As a top-selling brand, [Moderna] tends to trade on headlines beyond commercial results,” Evercore analysts said in a note published on May 7. “Regarding current headlines, there is no significant revenue opportunity.”
“Hantavirus is a low-cost, low-structure market, and we view any potential move as driven by sentiment, not fundamental. In particular, it strengthens Moderna’s mRNA platform agility, something that is already well understood after COVID,” they added.
Meanwhile, the company’s goal development Inovio Pharmaceuticals down 1%, while biotech firms Novavax again BioSolutions Urgent each decreased by 5% and 1%, respectively. All three stocks had seen gains in early trading.
US President Donald Trump said the outbreak on the cruise ship was under control and that a report on the virus would follow soon.
“It’s great, we hope, it’s under control,” Trump told reporters Thursday. “It was a ship, and I think we’ll do a full report on it tomorrow. We’ve got a lot of people. … It should be fine.”
What is hantavirus and how serious is an outbreak?
The Hantavirus strain in this case is the Andes virus, the only strain that can cause infection between humans, according to the WHO.
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday that eight cases have been reported, and three deaths, and five of these have been confirmed as hantavirus. I The WHO assessed the “public health risk as low,” Ghebreyesus said.
The MV Hondius is now docked in Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands, after spending several days ashore awaiting clearance.
Passengers and crew have begun disembarking under strict health rules, with authorities coordinating testing, isolation and repatriation efforts in many countries as they continue to monitor the spread of the virus.
