Shares of the coronavirus vaccine maker BioNTech (NASDAQ: BNTX) are up by over 7.2% as of 11:28 a.m. ET on Monday. The rise follows the company's report on June 25 that its updated jab candidate elicits a strong immune response against the omicron BA.1 variant when used as a booster, per its ongoing clinical trial in phase 2/3. Importantly, it also stated that preliminary preclinical research suggests the candidate can elicit an immune response against the BA.4 and BA.5 viral lineages, which are currently the dominant ones in circulation.
Getting an updated vaccine out the door to counter new viral variants in a timeline that's fast enough to matter has been a challenge for BioNTech and collaborator Pfizer. Plans to produce a booster shot for the beta and delta variants never panned out.
If the plan succeeds this time around, the product will have a major competitive advantage, as it'll be more effective than the others available.
Source Fool.com