Shares of Indian pharmaceutical firm Pfizer Ltd shares soared 16% in intra-day trade on Tuesday after a media report said that the company’s US parent firm has found a compound with potential to treat coronavirus, or Covid-19.
Pfizer Ltd shares hit their all-time high of Rs 4,925 apiece on Tuesday, but pared gains later. At 10:53 am, the stock was trading at Rs 4,463.65, up 5.1%. Pfizer shares have jumped over 34% in the last one year compared with a 1.3% rise in the benchmark Nifty 50 index.
Pfizer Ltd’s US parent Pfizer Inc. on Monday informed that it had identified certain antiviral compounds that have the potential to inhibit coronaviruses, according to a Reuters report. The drug maker added it is engaging with a third party to screen these compounds.
Pfizer Inc. added that the results from the screening are expected by March-end and if any of the compounds are successful, it would hope start testing them by the end of the year.
Pfizer’s chief scientific officer Mikael Dolsten was one of a number of pharmaceutical executives who met with US President Trump at the White House on Monday, according to the report.
Both domestic and international pharma stocks have been volatile since the coronavirus outbreak. Some are rallying as they seem to be leading the vaccine race even as the threat of supply shortages loom. Analysts have warned that not every company that promises a vaccine can actually deliver one, and the path toward developing a treatment may take months, if not years.
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