NABI in play today

Nabi Biopharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: NABI) is soaring on a report that it and GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) have entered into an agreement for its NicVAX, a nicotine conjugate candidate vaccine for the treatment of nicotine addiction and the prevention of smoking relapse. GSK will pay an upfront non-refundable fee of $40 million at closing to Nabi and will receive an option to exclusively license NicVAX on a worldwide basis. Also received will be a license to develop follow-on next-generation nicotine vaccines using Nabi’s intellectual property. Nabi is eligible to potentially receive over $500 million in total fees if all hurdles are hit and goals are achieved. Nabi’s market cap is $180 million. At 8:23 AM EST we have seen only about 16,000 shares trade hands versus an average daily volume of 165,000 shares. But the gain is up 35% at $4.83. That will be a 52-week high if it holds as the prior range is $2.15 to $4.75