Griffin Securities reaffirms Intrexon (NYSE: XON) with a Buy rating and $65 price target, saying the company's Oxitec subsidiary has an answer for the Zika pandemic.

Analyst Keith A. Markey, commented, The Company’s genetically modified, male Aedes aegypti mosquito (OX513A) has demonstrated an ability to knock down local mosquito populations in a species-specific manner. It has undergone extensive testing in different environments (jungle, rural populated regions, and cities) where it has bred with wild-type females generating offspring that die at the pupa and larva stages. Moreover, it does not pose a threat to predators that may consume them or their offspring, and their impact on a local wild Aedes aegypti population is not accompanied by an increase in other mosquito species.

Markey noted that OX513A is already approved for sale in Brazil and the Zika pandemic should motivate other countries to approve it.

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