Ocugen Shares Are Trading Higher On Its Partner's COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate Showing 81% Efficacy

Ocugen Inc (NASDAQ: OCGN) shares soared in the premarket on heavy volume after Bharat Biotech, the company's COVID-19 vaccine development partner in India, announced Phase 3 results of coronavirus vaccine dubbed as Covaxin (BBV152).

• Bharat Biotech shots demonstrated interim clinical efficacy of 81% in preventing COVID-19 in those without prior infection after the second dose.
• The Phase 3 study enrolled 25,800 participants.
• The first interim analysis is based on 43 cases, of which 36 cases of COVID-19 were observed in the placebo group versus 7 cases observed in the Covaxin group, resulting in a vaccine efficacy of 80.6%.
• Analysis from the National Institute of Virology indicates that vaccine-induced antibodies can neutralize the UK variant strains and other heterologous strains.
• Bharat Biotech expects to share further details of the trial results as additional data become available. An additional interim analysis is planned for 87 cases, and the final analysis is planned for 130 cases.
• BBV152 contains a whole virion inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, is stable at 2 to 8°C (refrigerated), and is shipped in a ready-to-use liquid formulation.
• Price Action: OCGN gained 24.8% at $11.96 in premarket trading on the last check Wednesday.