CSL Limited (ASX: CSL) shares weren't immune to the initial stock market panic that unfolded in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the month-long sell-off from late February 2020 through to late March 2020, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) global biotech company fell by some 20%.
Over the following month, CSL shares quickly recouped those losses.
While CSL didn't see its share price explode like some vaccine makers, the company was hard at work to combat the coronavirus.
In an agreement with AstraZeneca, CSL committed to manufacturing around 50 million doses of vaccines in Australia for domestic supply. The first doses were delivered in March 2021.
Which begs the question, could CSL shares capitalise on the next pandemic?
What's this about the avian flu?
Before ploughing ahead, our apologies for even throwing out the words 'next pandemic'. There's no need to go hoarding toilet paper and long-life milk just yet. Or hopefully ever again!
But that doesn't mean governments and biotech firms aren't working to get ahead of any potential future outbreaks.
As Fierce Pharma reports, CSL Seqirus – a subsidiary of CSL – inked a $30.1 million agreement with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a branch of the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
The agreement will see CSL deliver an avian flu vaccine candidate for a clinical study.
There have only been a few reported cases of the avian flu being transmitted from a bird to a person. And no reported cases of human-to-human transmission yet.
However, Lorna Meldrum, VP of commercial operations, international and pandemic response at CSL Seqirus, said BARDA is concerned enough about the potential dangers of the avian flu to fund the research.
"The next pandemic is probably going to be an influenza pandemic," Meldrum said. She noted that CSL Seqirus has partnerships with BARDA and other government health agencies across the globe.
Meldrum said that if there was another pandemic outbreak, CSL's seasonal flu shot production at its Holly Springs plant in North Carolina would "immediately switch" over to producing the pandemic influenza vaccine. She said the plant would be prepared to make 150 million doses within the first six months.
Addressing the company's readiness at its Holly Springs facility, Meldrum said (quoted by Fierce Pharma):
We have all the ingredients that you need to make a flu vaccine. We have a trained workforce. We have all our [standard operating procedures] in line; we have all our regulatory documents. So, we're like a machine that you just flick the switch, and then we're up and running.
How have CSL shares been performing?
The CSL share price has slipped 6.3% in 2022. That compares to a year-to-date loss of 12.4% posted by the ASX 200.
Longer-term, CSL shares are up 101% over five years.
