New York, May 18, 2026, 07:01 EDT
• GeoVax shares rallied in pre-market after closing Friday at $1.23.
• The move follows last week’s Q1 update, with no new results from the clinic.
• Cash burn, trial timelines and dilution remain key concerns.
GeoVax Labs Inc. shares were up before the bell Monday, after the stock took a hit last week. The micro-cap vaccine company was shown at $2.34 by Benzinga at 6:45 a.m. EDT, then quoted at $2.61 on Public.com at 7:00 a.m. ET. GeoVax closed at $1.23. Pre-market action before 9:30 a.m. tends to be thin.
GeoVax shares slid after the first-quarter update last week, with no fresh clinical news out Monday. The stock fell each day from May 11 to 15 and ended Friday off 2.4%. That drop followed a jump earlier this month tied to the GEO-MVA program.
GeoVax said May 14 it will start a Phase 3 “immunobridging” study of GEO-MVA, its MVA vaccine aimed at mpox and smallpox. Immunobridging checks immune markers like antibodies to compare GEO-MVA to an approved vaccine, so there’s no full traditional efficacy trial. GeoVax, Inc.
GeoVax CEO and chairman David A. Dodd said the company is now focused on “operational execution” in its Phase 3 program after declaring the team is “strategically aligned” on GEO-MVA. GeoVax wants to enroll about 500 people for the study. The Phase 3 trial will look at neutralizing antibody responses compared to an approved MVA-based vaccine. GeoVax, Inc.
Bulls are wagering GeoVax gets a green light from regulators to enter a market where governments still buy vaccines to stock up or respond to outbreaks. The company is promoting GEO-MVA as another MVA-based orthopoxvirus vaccine alternative, so the stock tends to move on trial progress headlines, not revenue news.
GeoVax kept a slim cash balance. Cash and equivalents fell to $1.27 million at March’s end, down from $3.09 million at year-end, according to a May 14 filing. The company had no government contract revenue for the quarter. BARDA called off its COVID-19 vaccine contract for convenience in 2025. Net loss was $5.26 million, close to last year’s $5.36 million.
GeoVax is facing some tough risks. The company warned its cash is only expected to last until June 2026 and flagged “substantial doubt” about its long-term survival in its filing. GeoVax said it will probably need to bring in new capital, whether by selling stock, taking on debt, landing grants, or signing up partners. More stock sales could end up diluting current shareholders. SEC
GeoVax is going for smaller cash raises. The company said May 7 that investors agreed to an inducement offer and exercised warrants, bringing in about $595,000 before fees. The deal gave investors new warrants in a private placement.
JYNNEOS, made by Bavarian Nordic, is the main mpox vaccine in the U.S. and the CDC says it is approved for preventing mpox and smallpox. The vaccine became the front-runner after the 2022 clade II outbreak. Emergent BioSolutions’ ACAM2000 shot has more side effects and restrictions; it’s only available for mpox through expanded access. Bavarian Nordic raised its 2026 outlook last week after it got another U.S. contract option for freeze-dried JYNNEOS, Reuters said.
GeoVax is keeping Gedeptin, its cancer project, in the spotlight. Dodd said May 13 the immuno-oncology field is moving toward drug combos aimed at making checkpoint inhibitors work better. GeoVax calls Gedeptin a gene-directed enzyme prodrug therapy, saying it hits tumors directly and is designed to ramp up anti-cancer effects inside tumor tissue.
Biotech names fell early Monday, with the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF and iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF both lower before the bell. GeoVax traded on its own headlines, not a sector bounce.
Pre-market gains on Monday will face their first real test at the open. If shares stumble in early trading, investors are likely to shift back to concerns about cash runway, financing risk, and timing for that Phase 3 start in the second half.
