Hantavirus cases spark surge in pharma and biotech stocks — here’s why

ILLUSTRATION of hantavirus testing concept with laboratory tubes containing cotton swabs and HANTAVIRUS labels photographed in front of a public domain hantavirus related microscopic image released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Paris, France, May 8, 2026. Joao Luiz Bulcao | Afp | Several pharmaceutical stocks surged on Monday as investors assessed which company might be best primed to tackle an outbreak of the hantavirus . The World Health Organization flagged an outbreak of hantavirus, a fatal and viral respiratory disease spread by rodents, on May 2, after some passengers caught it on a Dutch-flagged expedition cruise ship, the MV Hondius, which was sailing the Atlantic. The public health risk for the virus is low, according to the WHO and other health authorities have noted that human transmission is rare . Here's how the outbreak has led to a rally in certain pharma and biotech stocks. Which pharma and biotech stocks are rising? Biotech firm Moderna , which developed one of the main Covid-19 vaccines, was last up 7% in premarket trading after it said it was conducting preclinical research on the virus. "Moderna has conducted preclinical research on Hantaviruses in collaboration with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), reflecting the ongoing regional impact of these pathogens," it said in a statement shared with CNBC. …