Pfizer, BioNTech’s shares rise after FDA grants ‘fast track’ status to two coronavirus vaccine candidates
- Shares of BioNTech climbed about 10 per cent, while Pfizer’s stock rose about 2 per cent before the bell
- Moderna won the same status for its Covid-19 vaccine candidate in May
Pfizer and partner BioNTech said on Monday two of their experimental coronavirus vaccines received ‘fast track’ designation from the US health agency, speeding up the regulatory review process.
The US-listed shares of the German firm climbed about 10 per cent, while Pfizer’s stock rose about 2 per cent before the bell.
The companies are in a global race with Moderna, AstraZeneca and others to develop a vaccine for Covid-19, the respiratory illness caused by the new coronavirus, which has claimed over 568,500 lives globally, according to a Reuters tally.
There are no approved vaccines for Covid-19, and the United States and other countries have poured billions into their development as they seek to secure a safe and effective vaccine.
The fast track status could potentially make Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine candidates, BNT162b1 and BNT162b2, eligible for the US Food and Drug Administration’s ‘priority review’, under which the agency aims to decide on an approval within six months.