What happened
Thursday was generally a lousy day to be a stock investor...unless you're a shareholder of Pfizer (PFE 2.40%), that is. The mighty U.S. pharmaceutical company was a winner, with its shares rising almost 3% in contrast to the S&P 500 index's nearly 1% decline. A new supply agreement for the company's Comirnaty coronavirus vaccine was the tailwind pushing the stock forward.
So what
Pfizer and BioNTech, the German biotech that co-developed Comirnaty, announced that the U.S. government is ordering new doses of the vaccine. The Feds are to receive 105 million doses, which could include omicron-adapted versions of the jab if the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorizes them. The deal also provides an option for the government to buy up to 195 million more doses.
After those initial 105 million doses are delivered, Pfizer and BioNTech will receive $3.2 billion in combined payment.
The deal cements Comirnaty's position as a, if not the, go-to vaccine in the fight against the persistent coronavirus. Although cases and fatalities in the U.S. are not soaring as they did in the pandemic's earlier stages, they have been trending higher more often than not lately. Given that, it's necessary for governments like ours to have as many of the best weapons at its disposal as possible to battle the scourge.
Now what
Pfizer is a sprawling company with a host of commercialized goods, so Comirnaty is not a make-or-break product for the company. Still, it's enormously successful and is really juicing Pfizer's fundamentals, so any good news for it is positive for its co-creator. If the coronavirus continues to be a major problem, we can expect more such deals in the future.
