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- Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is effective in more than 90% of cases.
- Vaccine’s protective effect is likely to last for at least a year.
- Pfizer and BioNTech to deliver 50 million doses globally in 2020.
In a statement on Monday, Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE) and BioNTech SE (NASDAQ: BNTX) said that their jointly developed COVID-19 vaccine is effective in more than 90% of the patients. The two drug manufacturers are the first ones to publish successful trial data, taking the world a step closer to winning the battle against the Coronavirus pandemic that has so far infected more than 50 million people worldwide and caused over 1.2 million deaths.
Pfizer is still down 7% in the stock market on a year to date basis. But the shares of the company have recovered close to 25% since its year to date low in March, when the impact of the COVID-19 crisis was at its peak. At the time of writing, Pfizer is valued at £153.56 billion and has a price to earnings ratio of 23.56.
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Vaccine’s protective effect is likely to last for at least a year
CEO Ugur Sahin of BioNTech also said on Monday that the candidate COVID-19 vaccine is expected to keep its protective effect in patients for a minimum of one year. Earlier findings combined with research on patients that recovered from the novel flu-like virus drove the confidence that the protective effect was unlikely to be short-lived.
According to the Chief Executive, Albert Bourla, of Pfizer:
“The first set of results from our phase 3 COVID-19 vaccine trial provides the initial evidence of our vaccine’s ability to prevent COVID-19. We are a significant step closer to providing people around the world with a much-needed breakthrough to help bring an end to this global health crisis. We are reaching this critical milestone in our vaccine development program at a time when the world needs it most.”
Pfizer and BioNTech to deliver 50 million doses globally in 2020
The announcement on Monday also highlighted that COVID-19 patients developed protection in 4 weeks after the first dose, or one week after the second. As for supply projections, Pfizer and BioNTech expressed confidence that in 2020, as many as 50 million doses will be supplied globally, with 1.3 billion vaccine doses projected for 2021.
The news came only a week after Pfizer published better than expected results for its fiscal third quarter.
BioNTech has gained close to a massive 140% in the stock market this year. It debuted on Nasdaq last year in October at a per-share price of £10.50. At the time of writing, the German biotechnology company has a market cap of £16.63 billion.
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