"Today is a great day for science and humanity," said Dr. Albert Bourla, Pfizer Chairman and CEO.
This follows the first set of results from its phase 3 COVID-19 vaccine trial, which provides the initial evidence of its vaccine's ability to prevent COVID-19.
According to its announcement, the vaccine candidate was found to be more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 in participants without evidence of prior SARS-CoV-2 infection in the first interim efficacy analysis.
This was notably higher than experts had been hoping for, with many suggesting 60% to 70% effectiveness would have been positive.
The study enrolled 43,538 participants, with 42% having diverse backgrounds, and no serious safety concerns have been observed.
What now?
Safety and additional efficacy data continue to be collected and a Submission for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is planned soon after the required safety milestone is achieved. This is currently expected to occur in the third week of November.
The analysis evaluated 94 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in trial participants, but more data is wanted.
As such, the clinical trial will 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.
Based on current projections, Pfizer expects to produce globally up to 50 million vaccine doses in 2020 and up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021. The good news for Australia is that the government has previously secured 10 million doses of the vaccine.
How did the market react?
This news has given global markets a major lift, with shares and energy prices surging higher in Europe and the United States overnight.
For example, the DAX jumped 4.9%, the FTSE rose 4.7%, the WTI crude oil price is up 8.8%, and the Dow Jones has stormed 4.3% higher.
Pleasingly for Australian investors, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is expected to follow their lead and storm higher itself this morning. According to the latest SPI futures, the ASX 200 is poised to open the day a sizeable 56 points or 2.5% higher.
On global markets, travel shares have been clear standout performers. This could make it worth watching the likes of Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) and Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB) on Tuesday.
