Choppy trading day for Chimerix

Chimerix Inc. (NASDAQ:CMRX) slipped $0.32 to $32.91 on heavy volume Wednesday, as investors digested multiple news items. The stock traded as high as $35.98 early in the day after preliminary data from the pilot phase of the open-label Phase III AdVise study of brincidofovir to treat adenovirus showed a 35% mortality rate, compared to historical rates of up to 80% within a month of diagnosis. Chimerix will present data Saturday at the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) meeting in Philadelphia.

The early gains vanished after an Ebola patient, Thomas Eric Duncan, died. Duncan first received brincidofovir on Oct. 4, six days after he was admitted to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. The news sent Chimerix as low as $28. ...