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Vaccine Stocks Slide After Novavax Shot Proven Effective

The world’s top makers of Covid-19 vaccines dropped after tests of Novavax Inc.’s shots showed they were 90% effective at preventing symptoms.
Bloomberg
By Bloomberg
15 Jun
Vaccine Stocks Slide After Novavax Shot Proven EffectiveSignage outside the Novavax Inc. headquarters in Gaithersburg, Maryland, U.S., on Friday, March 12, 2021. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg

Stocks tied to inoculations already cleared for emergency use fell in Monday trading, led by Moderna Inc closed down 5.2% after dropping 9.5% intraday. Pfizer Inc. fell 1.3% and the drugmaker’s German partner BioNTech SE dropped 7.5%. Consumer giant Johnson & Johnson reversed earlier losses to close up 0.3%, slightly more than the S&P 500 index as the broader market closed at record highs.

Novavax itself wasn’t immune from the downdraft it created, with the stock reversing a 9.5% gain on Monday to close down about 1%. The shot’s efficacy was better than Wall Street was expecting amid the spread of more resistant variants, and that’s raising the specter of new competition. Novavax now has “a viable alternative to mRNA vaccines,” like Pfizer and BioNTech or Moderna’s shots, an analyst at Jefferies said.

Vaccine stocks Moderna and BioNTech take a breather after Novavax data

But with Novavax up 86% so far this year and after a more than 2,700% leap in 2020, it wasn’t enough to further bolster shares. Biotech stocks often climb ahead of highly watched catalysts, only to give back gains even after a positive update.

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