I pharmaceutical stocks they have been in the stock market spotlight for months. Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, shares in health care, together with those in the technology sector, have recorded very strong swings, soaring violently and then facing an equally violent fall whenever hopes for the arrival of a vaccine, a new test or an anti-Covid-19 drug have been dashed.
Today we have three vaccines (Pfizer-BionTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca-Oxford) and two more (Novavax and Johnson & Johnson) are in the pipeline. Tests to diagnose Covid-19 have grown in number and type, becoming increasingly precise, while effective treatments continue to be sought even against the new variants of Sars-Cov2 that have emerged in recent months.
In the real economy, the constant news on treatments, diagnoses and anti-Covid serums are considered as useful signals to predict when we will be able to arrive at what is now defined as "the new normal". On the markets instead there is talk of speculation and great rotation. What is certain is that even for 2021 analysts predict that the pharmaceutical sector will remain at the center of investors' attention, driven by technological developments and by the expectation for those "discoveries" that will be able to give us back the everyday life we knew.
Moving from theory to practice, FIRSTonline analyzed the trend of 12 of the leading pharmaceutical stocks European and American listed between Wall Street and Piazza Affari, trying to understand what are the actions that sparked off and which ones, on the other hand, have failed to take advantage of the "media attention" triggered by Covid-19 to increase their value.
NOVAVAX AND INOVIO IN ORBIT
In the last year, the share that has recorded the greatest increase in percentage terms is that of novavax, the US pharmaceutical group listed on the Nasdaq which in the session of 1 February recorded an increase of 21,44%, +3,62% in today's pre-market, Tuesday 2 February. Since February 2020, Novavax shares have gained more than 3421% of their value, rising to $268, for a total capitalization of 18,046 billion. For a few days, the publication of the results of the tests on the anti-Covid vaccine under experimentation has contributed to pushing the title. The serum was 89,3% effective against the English variant of Covid-19, while the effectiveness drops to 49% against the South African one (60% not counting HIV-infected subjects in the sample).
Rain of purchases also on Inovio pharmaceuticals, a company based in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, active in the research and development of products based on synthetic DNA for the treatment of tumors and infectious diseases and in vaccines (it is experimenting with one against Covid-19, tests have reached phase 2). In the February 1 session, the shares gained 33%, climbing to $16,96 per share. How much was the title worth a year ago? $3,19 per share, which means it was up 431%.
WHO HAS A VACCINE ALREADY
These are Pfizer-BionTech, Moderna and Astrazeneca. It is the companies that are distributing (with quite a few difficulties and delays) the anti-Covid vaccines used in the main Western countries.
Let's start with the first comer. After receiving the OK from the authorities of Great Britain, Canada and the United States, the Pfizer-BionTech serum has been available since December 27 in the European Union. His arrival was celebrated everywhere with great joy. The title Pfizer however it did not benefit much from it and, despite the continuous ups and downs, in the last year it lost 2,8% reaching 35,8 dollars per share. The German colleague fared much better biotech which in the same period recorded an increase of 286% to 116,48 on the Nasdaq and 240% on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
More convincing the performance of Modern, which thanks to the anti-Covid vaccine, has seen its stock soar by 577% in one year, rising to $157,48 per share. Balance sheet in both New York and London for AstraZeneca, whose performance was affected by the announcement relating to the cut in deliveries and the consequent dispute with the European Union on the contract stipulated previously. Suffice it to say that in London, on 26 January an AstraZeneca share was worth 7.952 pounds, today it is worth 7.430.
J&J AND ELI LILLY
A title to keep an eye on in the coming months will be Johnson & Johnson. The US pharmaceutical company is working on a highly anticipated anti-Covid-19 vaccine all over the world because, unlike the others currently in circulation, it is single-dose. On January 29, the company published the results of its phase III trials: the serum demonstrated 66% efficacy in preventing moderate disease (data from three continents) while it was much more protective (85%) against more severe symptoms. A year ago it was necessary to shell out $151,89 to buy a J&J share, today it takes $162,6. The rise is 7,12%.
Not to be underestimated either Eli Lilly which last week published the results of the experimentation of its anti-Covid monoclonal antibodies. Tests have shown that among those infected who received treatment based on bamlanivimab and etesevimab, mortality was reduced by 70%. How's the stock market doing? +38,74% from February 2020 to $203,10 per share.
EUROPEAN PHARMACEUTICALS
Among the European pharmaceutical companies, the one that recorded the best annual performance is Diasorin, up more than 60% to 177,2 euros per share. The Piedmontese company does not deal with vaccines or treatments, but operates in immunodiagnostics and molecular diagnostics. Put simply, it is thanks to companies like Diasorin that there are molecular and rapid tests to diagnose Covid-19. The company has developed six of them, the latest of which (Liaison® Sars-CoV-2 TrimericS IgG test) was launched two weeks ago.
Respectable performance (+16,6% ytd on the Nasdaq and +69% since February 2020) also for the German CureVac which just yesterday announced an agreement according to which, starting from 2022, Bayer will take care of the production of the mRNA-based vaccine that CureVac is developing.
In the last 12 months, however, the shares of the French company have recorded declines Sanofi (-16%) and the Swiss giant Novartis (-1%).
(Last update: 15.34 pm on 2 February).
