Health stocks are still ahead by more than 6 per cent since the start of the year, compared to the broader S&P/ASX200, which has slumped 18 per cent since January.

Local medtechs across the board have been pivoting their research to coronavirus treatments and cures, with some seeing big share price gains. Stem cell company Mesoblast is up 85 per cent since January on news of its coronavirus treatment trials.

Despite this, analysts warn investors that there are hurdles in the way for companies hoping to achieve share price gains from treatment research.

My sense is that theres quite an onus on these companies to take a humanitarian as opposed to commercial point of view.

Morningstar equities analyst Nicolette Quinn said there was a myriad of local companies looking to come up with coronavirus trials, but many of these businesses had never fully commercialised a product before.

Ms Quinn ceased coverage of Mesoblast earlier this year but observed that while the company had taken its first steps into research, "they dont yet have a track record of launching a product".

The other challenge for companies looking to develop virus treatments is that they may not see strong profits from these if they do come to market, Ms Quinn said.

"My sense is that theres quite an onus on these companies to take a humanitarian as opposed to commercial point of view," she said.

Any company that came up with a treatment or vaccine would likely have to work with others to commercialise it and avoid being seen as profiteering, she said. "It will be, 'how profitable can they make it'?"

The share price of Australia's largest business by market value, CSL has climbed 12 per cent since January. Over the past two months the company has unveiled a range of coronavirus research initiatives, including working with the University of Queensland on a vaccine candidate and developing plasma-based therapies to help those with severe respiratoryissues.

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Ms Quinn said while she was watching testing and treatment developments closely, she was not viewing CSL's virus research as important to the company's overall operations or a "major contributor to their bottom line".

Mr Low agreed that news about treatments were not affecting how he viewed local stocks. Many treatment projects fail after the first round of clinical trials, meaning for every good piece of news about progress, the market was likely to face setbacks, he said.

"There will also be days with bad news on this front if only around 10 per cent of trials succeed. For the moment, this [news of vaccine developments] has little bearing on the Australian health companies I follow," he said.

Emma is the small business reporter for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald based in Melbourne.

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