Pfizer shares jump 9% as parent's potential covid-19 drug shows positive result

Mumbai: Shares of Pfizer surged as much as 8.5% to ₹4172.60 on Thursday after the company's US-based parent reported positive preliminary results from a joint project to develop coronavirus vaccine.

At 12:30 pm, Pfizer shares were at ₹4163.95, up 4.76% from the previous close, while the benchmark index, Sensex gained 1.25% to 35856.53.

BioNTech and Pfizer pick the most promising of four experimental vaccines for a trial, involving up to 30,000 healthy participants, that is likely to begin in the United States and Europe in late July, if it gets the regulatory green light. The study of Pfizer's and BioNtech's vaccine candidate, called BNT162b1, is undergoing scientific peer review. 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.

Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech are in a race with companies including AstraZeneca Plc, Moderna Inc. and dozens of other biopharmaceutical outfits and academic groups to come up with a safe and effective vaccine against covid-19. With almost 10.5 million confirmed cases around the globe and over half a million deaths, drug makers are under increasing pressure to deliver.

"These first trial results show that the vaccine yields immune activity and causes a strong immune response," said BioNTech's co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Ugur Sahin.

From the beginning of the year, Pfizer shares have fallen 1.43% against a drop of 13.51% in the benchmark index, Sensex.

Pfizer's net profit fell 5.9% year-on-year to ₹103.01 crore for the quarter ended March. Net sales declined 6.3% to ₹502.01 crore in Q4.