'The Most Significant Medical Breakthrough in 100 Years', 90% Effective Pfizer and BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine Sends Stocks Surging

News that Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) and BioNTech's (NASDAQ: BNTX) COVID-19 vaccine candidate was more than 90% effective in a Phase 3 study has lit a fire under U.S. stocks Monday morning. Dow futures are currently up an astonishing 1,500 points.

According to the statement, the BNT162b2 vaccine candidate proved to be over 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 in trial participants, at 7 days after the second dose. Results showed that protection is achieved 28 days after the initiation of the vaccination, consisting of a 2-dose schedule.

“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 Dr. Albert Bourla, Pfizer Chairman and CEO.

"I believe this is likely the most significant medical advance in the last 100 years," Bourla added.

“We are reaching this critical milestone in our vaccine development program at a time when the world needs it most with infection rates setting new records, hospitals nearing over-capacity and economies struggling to reopen. With today’s news, 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 look forward to sharing additional efficacy and safety data generated from thousands of participants in the coming weeks.”

The next step for the two companies is to ask the FDA for an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) after the safety milestones are achieved, which is currently planned to happen in the third week of November.

PFE and BNTX reiterated their commitment to produce up to 50 million vaccine doses in 2020 and up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021.

Louise Chen, an analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald, said that today’s results have shown higher-than-expected efficacy.

“We think the Street would have been very happy with the greater than or equal to 76.9% set by the protocols to announce efficacy results at the first interim look. Based on this data we think the stock could trade to $40 to $40+, depending on if this is a one and done scenario or recurring revenue stream. If efficacy of ~90% holds in the final analysis, we may be looking at a one and done scenario,” Chen wrote in today’s note to clients.

The analyst rates PFE with an “Overweight” rating and a $53.00 price target.

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