Moderna soars 10% after results show its COVID-19 vaccine is almost 95% effective

• Shares in Moderna rose 10% in early trading on Monday after an independent health board said its COVID-19 vaccine is almost 95% effective.
• Moderna plans to apply for Emergency Use Authorization with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the coming weeks.
• The company’s COVID-19 shot is the second major vaccine program to announce success in a late-stage trial. 
• Until a vaccine is available for widespread use, markets can be expected to remain volatile and to reflect the general nervousness currently felt by investors, a financial analyst said.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Moderna’s stock leapt as much as 10% in early trading on Monday after the company announced its vaccine candidate is officially 94.5% effective.

The US drugmaker said an independent group of experts found clear signs of effectiveness after reviewing preliminary data from an ongoing 30,000-person study.

The company plans to submit an application for Emergency Use Authorization with the US FDA in the coming weeks on the basis of the final analysis of 151 cases and a median follow-up of more than 2 months.

Moderna’s vaccine shot is the second major vaccine program to announce success in a late-stage trial. 

“This positive interim analysis from our Phase 3 study has given us the first clinical validation that our vaccine can prevent COVID-19 disease, including severe disease,” Stéphane Bancel, Moderna’s CEO, said in a statement.

Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci said on NBC News’ TODAY: “Now we have two vaccines that are really quite effective. I think this is a really strong step forward to where we want to be about getting control of this outbreak.”

Dr. Fauci said vaccine doses should be available by the end of December for individuals in the high-risk category.

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There’s no way of telling whether or not Moderna will be able to keep up with what will no doubt be extraordinarily high demand for its vaccine, said Adam Vettese, analyst at multi-asset investment platform eToro. “Until it is available for widespread use, then I expect markets to remain volatile and to reflect the general nervousness currently felt by investors.”

“However, once – or even if – that happens, you can expect fresh rally in share prices, particularly for stocks in sectors most affected by coronavirus, such as oil, retail and travel,” he said.

Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech said last week that their experimental COVID-19 vaccine was over 90% effective in preventing infection.

Developing an effective vaccine against a novel virus in less than a year is an unprecedented feat in medicine.

A third vaccine being developed by Janssen, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, will enter large-scale clinical trials in the UK on Monday. 6,000 British volunteers have signed up to participate in the Phase-3 trial.

Investors are also waiting on progress reports from AstraZeneca, which has partnered with Oxford University.

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