What happened Shares of the mid-cap biotech Sorrento Therapeutics (NASDAQ: SRNE) jumped by as much as 20.6% in premarket trading Friday morning. The company's shares are bolting higher in response to the news that its wholly owned subsidiary SmartPharm Therapeutics had landed a $34 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop a rapid countermeasure against COVID-19. This initial round of funding will reportedly be used to support the development of the SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody STI-2020 (aka COVI-AMG) through phase 2 studies. In preclinical studies, hamsters treated with STI-2020 experienced a dramatic reduction in viral load compared to animals in the control group, according to Sorrento. So what Sorrento's highly diverse COVID-19 pipeline attracted investors in droves earlier this year. After the company fell well behind the pack from a developmental standpoint, however, its shares clearly lost a fair amount of their appeal. Sorrento's stock, in fact, was off by a whopping 57% relative to its 52-week at the close of trading last Wednesday. This DARPA contract -- while small in absolute terms -- seems to be reigniting investor interest in this mid-cap biotech. Now what Is Sorrento's stock a strong buy in the wake of this news? It all depends on your appetite for risk. On the one hand, Sorrento clearly sports tremendous promise as a growth vehicle, thanks to its diverse lineup of COVID-19 diagnostics and antibodies and even a possible vaccine. But the COVID-19 space may also turn out to be an exceptionally hard place to make a living for a smaller company like Sorrento. Therefore, this biotech stock arguably still isn't suited for the risk-averse crowd -- despite today's encouraging development. 10 stocks we like better than Sorrento TherapeuticsWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Sorrento Therapeutics wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of November 20, 2020 George Budwell has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Source