On Thursday Jan 28, 2016 shares of Inovio (Nasdaq:INO) closed the day up 7.64% after the company announced that it would start to recruit for a MERS vaccine trial with Gene One Life Science. MERS stands for Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome, and is a respiratory illness that is contagious. Symptoms of MERS are: Cough, Fever, Shortness of Breath. This trial will be the first MERS vaccine ever to be tested in human subjects, which should shed more light on finding a possible treatment for the disease.

There are currently no approved regulatory treatments for MERS, therefore Inovio and Gene One life Science have the ability to be the first biotechnology company to develop a product for the virus. Inovio is a biotechnology company using synthetic DNA vaccines to treat a variety of diseases with an unmet medical need. These DNA vaccines along with Electroporation — electric pulse to open up T-Cells — are used to stimulate the patient’s immune system to fight off these diseases.

It has been a great week for Inovio, and even the very next day on Friday Jan 29, 2016 saw another surge in share price. This wasn’t because of the MERS vaccine trial, instead this deals with a virus outbreak that has been quickly spreading, known as the Zika Virus. Bloomberg reported that in a phone interview with the Inovio CEO, Joseph Kim, he revealed that the company would begin enrolling patients for a trial treating patients with the virus.

Even though the study won’t begin a phase 1 trial for the Zika virus until Q4 2016, shares of Inovio have continued to climb last week regardless. Shares of Inovio have gained approximately 32% last week, marking a nice little run after these recent news developments. The company is a great long-term stock to own, because of the potential impact the company can make on infectious diseases. If Inovio continues to prove efficacy in a multitude of diseases, then there is no doubt that investors will be rewarded in the long run.