Film-era photo giant Kodak jumped more than fivefold today on news of a federal contract to produce drug components.

Hopes for Kodak's pharmaceutical future stem from a $765 million U.S. federal Defense Production Act (DPA) loan that the U.S. administration has invoked under the guise of fighting the coronavirus. Under the order, a separate company, Kodak Pharmaceuticals, is created. The loan is long-term (25 years), but the terms are close to commercial ones.

Kodak will be engaged in the production of drug substances and generics based on them in order to reduce dependence in this direction on India and China. Last year, the US imported $3.9 billion worth of pharmaceutical raw materials from China alone, a figure that grew by a quarter in a year.

The idea and its execution belong personally to US President Donald Trump, writes WSJ. The day before, he said that this would be "a breakthrough in the return of pharmaceutical production to the United States." And the list of generics will include Trump's favorite hydroxychloroquine.

Today, on the news about the loan, Kodak quotes at the peak rose almost seven times, to $53. However, even such quotes correspond to a capitalization of about $2 billion, and before the jump it was around $300 million.
This is a record high not only since the bankruptcy in 2012, but also since the beginning of the 2000s (of course, with incomparable capitalization). However, the revival seems modest: we are talking about 300 new jobs in the "capital" Kodak Rochester, New York, and dozens of places in Minnesota.
You can read about how Kodak, at the very beginning of the digital revolution in photography, fell victim to it here .

Kodak shares have risen in price several times