A major pharmaceutical company saw its shares surge after announcing it had been researching hantavirus vaccines .

Amid concerns about the recent hantavirus outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship , Moderna revealed it had been conducting preliminary hantavirus vaccine research, Bloomberg reported last week. The company’s work reportedly started before this month’s outbreak.

Moderna was up almost 6 percent when markets opened Monday after the announcement, CNBC reports.

“These efforts are early-stage and ongoing and reflect Moderna’s broader responsibility to develop countermeasures against emerging infectious diseases,” the company said in a statement.

The Independent has contacted Moderna for comment.

Moderna has revealed it was working on hantavirus vaccine research before this month’s outbreak on the MV Hondius (Getty Images)

The World Health Organization received reports of a respiratory illness outbreak — later revealed to be the Andes variant of hantavirus — aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship on…