Shares of Ocugen (NASDAQ:OCGN) are surging in Monday morning’s pre-market trading after the White House said it has India’s back amid the country’s recent spike in Covid-19 cases. OCGN stock was up 16.3% at 7:3o a.m. Eastern.
With India facing a ferocious second wave of Covid-19 infections, hospitals are running out of oxygen, beds and antiviral drugs. Many patients have been turned away because there was no space for them.
The White House said Sunday that the U.S. has identified sources of specific raw material urgently required for Indian manufacture of the Covishield vaccine that will immediately be made available for India. That is the AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) vaccine developed with Oxford University.
The other vaccine available in India, Covaxin, has been developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech in association with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Institute of Virology (NIV). Pennsylvania-based Ocugen has a collaboration agreement with Bharat to handle commercialization of Covaxin in the U.S. pending approval.
OCGN Stock Gained on Trials News
OCGN stock gained 66.6% last week on news of Bharat’s recent Phase 3 trials in India. Amid the raging pandemic, the Indian firm said interim analysis results from a Phase 3 study found a point estimate of vaccine efficacy of 78% against mild, moderate and severe Covid-19 disease. The efficacy against severe Covid-19 disease was 100%, with an impact on reduction in hospitalizations. The efficacy against asymptomatic Covid-19 infection was 70%, suggesting decreased transmission in Covaxin recipients.
Ocugen aims to launch the two-dose vaccine for the U.S. market in the second quarter of 2021. Chief executive Shankar Musunuri told Reuters last month that 100 million doses would be available after it gets clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Currently, vaccines developed by Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) have been cleared for emergency use. Use of the JNJ vaccine has been allowed again after a panel of experts on Friday voted to put it back in distribution despite rare blood clotting problems.
In the wake of the Bharat trials news, Ocugen last week also announced it had completed a $100 million registered direct offering of OCGN stock priced at $10 per share, a premium to the market.
On the date of publication, Robert Lakin did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.
InvestorPlace contributor Robert Lakin is a veteran financial writer and editor, including previous stints with Bloomberg News, McKinsey & Co. and McDonald & Company Investments.
