Pfizer Jumps 8.5% As Parent Firm's Coronavirus Vaccine Shows Potential In Human Trials

Shares of Pfizer Limited rose as much as 8.5 percent to Rs 4,313.40 on BSE on Thursday after an early trial of the experimental coronavirus vaccine from the company's American parent Pfizer Inc and BioNtech SE showed it's safe and prompted patients to produce antibodies against the virus.

With over 10.5 million confirmed COVID-19 infections across the world, USA's Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech and other biopharmaceutical outfits and academic groups are in a race to come up with a safe and effective vaccine against the virus.

The messenger RNA product was tested on 45 healthy adults divided into several groups. The group that got two injections with two different doses of the experimental vaccine produced the highest level of antibodies.

On Wednesday, Pfizer Inc's shares gained as much as 5.6 percent in New York, while BioNtech shares jumped by as much as 19 percent in Germany. The companies said that the study of Pfizer's and BioNtech's vaccine candidate, called BNT162b1, is undergoing scientific peer review.

They are evaluating at least four experimental vaccines at various doses and will be picking the most promising one for the next stage of tests, which could start as early as this month and involve as many as 30,000 patients.

If the vaccine is successful, the companies expect to manufacture up to 100 million doses by the end of this year and potentially more than 1.2 billion doses by the end of 2021.