Pfizer shares soared nearly 20 per cent to an all-time high on the BSE in early trading after its parent company, the US-based multinational pharma firm Pfizer said that its COVID-19 vaccine, developed in association with the German partner BioNTech SE, was more than 90 per cent effective against SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19. Riding on the research developments, the shares of Pfizer opened at the day's and all-time high of Rs 5,875, up as much as 19.5 per cent, on the BSE. At 12:20 pm, the shares pared most of their gains and were trading at Rs 5,100, up 3.7 per cent.
Pfizer and German partner BioNTech have been the first to release data showing that their vaccine worked in large, late-stage clinical trials and said they did not find any serious safety concerns as yet. They will be seeking US emergency use authorization this month.
Drug makers and research centers around the world are racing against time to develop a vaccine to combat the virus, which has already sniffed out countless lives and brought the world economy on its knees. The US-based biotech firm Moderna, Britain-based AstraZeneca-University of Oxford team and Johnson and Johnson are also in advanced stages of phase-3 vaccine trials.
The BSE Sensex was at 43,090.85, higher by 491 points or 1.1 per cent and the NSE Nifty was at 12579.95,up 119.25 points or 0.95 per cent at the time.
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