What happened

Shares of Vaxcyte (PCVX 0.30%), a clinical-stage vaccine innovation company, climbed 110.70% this week, according to data from S&P Global Intelligence. The stock closed last week at $20.58. It then opened dramatically higher on Monday at $35.15 and climbed to a weekly and 52-week high of $43.65 on Friday before closing the week at $43.36. The stock is up more than 82% this year.

So what

The jump was due to the company releasing data from a trial for its pneumonia vaccine VAX-24, which has a Fast Track designation from the Food and Drug Administration. Actually, the stock rose Monday because, on Sunday, the company said it was planning to announce trial data on the vaccine.

On Monday, it followed up, saying VAX-24's phase 1/2 trial of healthy adults 18-64 met its primary safety and tolerability targets and was similar in that way to Pfizer's Prevnar 20 and could be a best-in-class pneumonia vaccine.

The vaccine is called VAX-24 because it serves as 24 vaccines against bacteria that can cause pneumonia. According to the American Lung Association, pneumonia causes more than one-million hospitalizations and more than 50,000 deaths each year in the U.S., while the World Health Organization says it is the largest infectious cause of death in children worldwide.

Now what

Vaxcyte has a long way to go before its lead vaccine can go to market. The healthcare company has to finish its phase 2 trial, which Vaxcyte said would likely take six months of follow-up. Meanwhile, the company has other preclinical vaccines in the works for strep, periodontitis (gum disease), and another pneumonia vaccine, Valent PCV. According to a report by Allied Market Data, the global vaccines market was $38.061 billion in 2021 and is expected to be a $72.129 billion market by 2031, with a compound annual growth rate of 6.6% between 2022 and 2031.

Vaxcyte has a lot of people excited right now and used the opportunity to raise $690 million with a stock sale. The money should come in handy because as of June 30, the company said its $361.4 million in cash is only enough to fund operations for another two years.