With new vaccine data released Tuesday, Vaxcyte, a San Carlos, Calif.-based firm, emerged as one of biotechnology’s hottest David-vs.-Goliath stories as the company seeks to challenge one of Pfizer’s biggest franchises: the Prevnar vaccine against pneumococcal disease.
Shares in the company rocketed up 36% on the new data — released via press release — bringing the stock’s gain over the past 12 months to 115%. That gives the company an eye-popping $12 billion market capitalization.
The reason for the stock boost: Vaxcyte’s pneumococcal vaccine outperformed Pfizer’s current version of Prevnar, Prevnar 20, in a small preliminary clinical trial of 1,015 healthy adults aged 50 and older.
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