Drug-maker giant Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) shares jumped 14% after it said that preliminary analysis showed 90% efficacy of its coronavirus vaccine.
It was called a “great day for science & humanity,” by development companies Pfizer and BioNTech.
Their vaccine was tested in six countries on 43,500 individuals and no safety issues were posed.
In response to a clear end to the US election, stocks, already bolstered, poured on profits and the FTSE 100 soared 5 percent.
But businesses benefiting from it dived as airlines, hotels, and others hit hardest by the pandemic jumped by up to 53 percent.
Similar gains to those seen in London were made by other markets in Europe. And the Dow Jones and S&P 500 opened 5.6% and 3.6% higher, respectively, in the US.
It is very unusual for stocks to leap by such wide margins, and in the case of the UK, on the market’s best day since March, the FTSE 100 added £82bn to the value of its shares.
Companies expect to apply by the end of the month for emergency permission to use the vaccine.
There is still a lot of work to be done, but the news was warmly embraced by scientists who are anticipating that by spring life could be back to normal.
A vaccination is seen as the only way to break out of the constraints that have been placed in the daily lives, alongside improved therapies.
In the final stages of study-known as a phase 3 trial-there are around a hundred, but this is the first to produce any results.
In order to train the immune system, it uses an entirely experimental technique-which includes injecting part of the genetic code of the virus.
Previous studies have shown that the body is being prepared to generate both antibodies and another element of the immune response against coronavirus called T-cells.
This drug is injected in two doses, three weeks apart. Studies in the United States, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, and Turkey have shown that 90% of safety is obtained 7 days after the second dose.
Pfizer in the meantime plans to produce 50 million doses by the end of this year and about 1.3 billion by the end of next year.