New Delhi– Dow Jones futures rallied on Monday after Pfizer announced that its Covid-19 vaccine is more than 90 per cent effective.
Dow Jones futures rallied 1,300 points, adding more gains after Joe Biden emerged victorious in the US presidential elections.
Futures on the S&P 500 were up by 3.6 per cent early on Monday, and Nasdaq futures climbed by more than 2 per cent. NBC reported that shares in travel and hospitality sector rocketed after the Pfizer announcement, on hopes that passenger demand and visitors would return. Casino operator MGM Resorts and Delta Air Lines both surged by 18 per cent and Royal Caribbean cruise lines soared by 25 per cent.
Pfizer and Biontech announced on Monday that their vaccine candidate has been found to be more than 90 per cent effective in preventing Covid-19 in participants without evidence of prior SARS-CoV-2 infection in the first interim efficacy analysis.
The analysis evaluated 94 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in trial participants. The study enrolled 43,538 participants, with 42 per cent having diverse backgrounds, and no serious safety concerns have been observed; Safety and additional efficacy data continue to be collected.
Submission for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is planned for soon after the required safety milestone is achieved, which is currently expected to occur in the third week of November.
The companies said the clinical trial to continue through to final analysis at 164 confirmed cases in order to collect further data and characterise the vaccine candidate’s performance against other study endpoints.
“Today is a great day for science and humanity. 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,” said Albert Bourla, Pfizer Chairman and CEO.
Along with the efficacy data generated from the clinical trial, Pfizer and BioNTech are working to prepare the necessary safety and manufacturing data to submit to the FDA to demonstrate the safety and quality of the vaccine product produced.
Based on current projections we expect to produce globally up to 50 million vaccine doses in 2020 and up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021. (IANS)
