Medicago Inc MDCGF

Good news...indeed

[Jentai]

UPDATE 1-RBC starts Medicago with outperform,shares up4 hours ago by Thomson Reuters
* Starts coverage with"outperform", target price C$1.25
* Shares up 9 pct (Follows alerts)
Dec 5 (Reuters) - RBC Capital Marketsinitiated coverage on Medicago Inc with an "outperform" rating and aprice target of C$1.25, citing the Canadian biotechnology company's faster andlow-cost approach to producing influenza vaccines.
Shares of the company were up more than 9percent in early trade on Monday.
Medicago, which produces pandemic andseasonal flu vaccines from plants such as tobacco leaves, uses its technologyto produce particles that resemble a virus, but are non-infectious and cannotreplicate.
"Compared with other incumbents, whichprimarily employ chicken eggs to make vaccines and require 12-20 weeks,Medicago's vaccines can be made in 4-6 weeks and at a fraction of thecost," said RBC Capital Markets in a note.
These speed and cost advantages are importantfactors for governments to consider while preparing for pandemic outbreaks, thebrokerage added.
In June, the company had said it expects tohave the capacity to commercially produce its experimental bird flu vaccines asits facility in North Carolina which will be operational this fall.
Shares ofthe Quebec City-based company were trading at 58 Canadian cents on Monday onthe Toronto Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Maneesha Tiwari in Ban