Ocugen Shares Gain After Its Partner's COVID-19 Vaccine Shows Effectiveness Against Multiple Variants

Ocugen Inc OCGN has announced that in a new study, COVAXIN demonstrated potential effectiveness against the Brazil variant of SARS-CoV-2, B.1.128.2.
The study was conducted at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)-National Institute of Virology.
Ocugen is developing COVAXIN, Bharat Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine candidate, for the U.S. market.
In the recently shared second interim results of the Phase 3 trial, Covaxin demonstrated 78% overall efficacy and 100% in severe COVID-19 disease (including hospitalization).
In the ICMR studies, Covaxin-vaccinated sera effectively neutralized several SARS-CoV-2 variants (B.1.617 (India, double mutant), B.1.1.7 (United Kingdom), B.1.1.28 (Brazil P2), and heterologous strain) in an in-vitro plaque reduction neutralization assay.
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As previously disclosed, a study conducted by ICMR also suggested that Covaxin was effective against the U.K. variant, B.1.1.7, as well as the Indian double mutant variant, B.1.617.
Last month, India's Bharat Biotech announced Covaxin capacity expansion to reach over 700 million doses per year.
First interim data announced in March demonstrated clinical efficacy of 81% in preventing COVID-19 in those without prior infection after the second dose.
Price Action: OCGN shares are up 12.9% at $14.29 in the premarket session on the last check Monday.