While biotech is a tough line of work that has a historically high percentage of companies whose stock trades at or below their cash value, some show potential that has garnered a high level of outside interest, including Berwyn-based Virpax Pharmaceuticals, writes Larry Light for Forbes. 

Virpax focuses on pain management without the addictive aspect of opioids. The company has already been awarded grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Pentagon. Meanwhile, the U.S. Army is studying the potential use of one of its pain medicines for battlefield wounds and other injuries. 

Virpax is also working on a way to deliver molecules that would manage patients’ symptoms from Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, cancer cachexia, and other neurodegenerative and neurotransmission disorders. 

As a young biotech outfit, Virpax currently has no earnings or revenue. The company went public around two years ago at $6 per share and it has managed to raise $18 million along with another $40 million in a later offering. 

And while the stock is currently trading at 33 cents, its pain management drug candidate, Probudur, which will potentially remove the need for opioids, paints a promising picture for the company’s future. 

Read more about Virpax Pharmaceuticals’ potential to bloom in biotech in Forbes. 

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