Shares in GeoVax Labs were up as much as 36% Friday after the company presented data from ongoing studies of its preventive vaccine against COVID-19 at the European Society of Medicine (ESMED) general assembly, as reported in Fidelity.

Chief scientific officer Mark Newman discussed vaccine design strategy for a universal COVID-19 vaccine and presented stability and protein expression data for its initial candidate, GEO-CM02, including efficacy and immunogenicity data from hamster and transgenic mice studies.

The company said its design strategy is expected to induce broader immunity through inclusion of multiple structural and nonstructural proteins from the target pathogen.

"The presentation of data from this study further validates our platform and approach to addressing COVID-19 and its variants," remarked CEO David Dodd.