Shares in US pharmaceutical company Pfizer are trading around 0.5% lower pre-market on Tuesday, extending the losses seen across recent days. Indeed, the sell-off comes despite news this week that Pfizer’s joint clinical trials with German firm BioNTech have produced positive results so far. The two bio firms announced in July that they had begun trialing a pair of COVID-19 vaccinations. This week they gave the first update on the initial results.
11,000 Currently Tested
Pfizer declared that, alongside its partner, it had progressed 11,000 people in the late stages of the clinical trial. Patients have been receiving 40 micrograms of the BNT162B2 drug at a dosage of 30 micrograms.
So far, participants in the trial, aged between 18 and 55, displayed antibody concentrations which were 3.8 higher than those seen in convalescent patients seven days past the second dose. Concentrations were 1.6 times higher in those aged 65-85.
The drug being trialed was selected at the end of July from a group of several potential vaccines. It is currently being developed for a further set of trials (phases 2 and 3). 30,000 participants will take part in further trials. The current testing is taking place in more than 100 sites based in the US, Argentina, and Brazil.
Promising Results
Commenting on the trial, Pfizer’s head of research Kathrin Jansen said:
“The totality of the clinical and preclinical data-informed Pfizer and BioNTech’s decision to select BNT162b2 as the lead candidate to advance into pivotal trials. We are especially pleased to offer these early data showing our vaccine candidate’s promising safety and immunogenicity profile from the U.S. trial, and we look forward to sharing T-cell immune response data from the German trial in the near future.”
Weak Q2 Earnings
Despite the optimism around the trials, Pfizer shares prices have struggled recently following a disappointing set of Q2 earnings.
Pfizer reported earnings per share of $0.61, undershooting expectations of a $0.68 EPS. Revenues were lower by 11% on the same period last year at $11.8 billion. This is a decrease of 1.5% billion.
The company cited the disruptive impact of the COVID-19 crisis as the main cause of the group’s difficulties over the quarter though was confident that the quarter would prove to be the worst of the year and forecasts of a recovery across the remainder of the year.
Pfizer Still Stuck at Resistance Level
Shares in Pfizer remain capped by the 39.19 level currently. Price continues to trade above the rising trend line from year to date lows. While the 36.45 level holds as support, the focus remains on the continued upside in the near term.
With the RSI indicator showing bearish divergence, however, any break of the 36.45 level could pave the way for a deeper reversal, targeting the rising trend line as the next main support.
