Wockhardt to supply Covid-19 vaccines to UK govt; stock soars 27% in 3 days

Shares of Wockhardt extended their gains into third consecutive day, and were locked in the 10 per cent upper circuit band at Rs 334 apiece, on the BSE on Tuesday after the company said it will supply millions of doses of multiple Covid-19 vaccines, including that being developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, under a deal with the UK government.

With today's gains, the stock has rallied 28 per cent in the past three days as against 2 per cent decline in the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex. The stock had hit a 52-week high of FRs 411 on the BSE on February 11, 2020.  

This is the latest step by the UK to secure supplies and production of Covid-19 vaccines after striking four deals with drugmakers to buy their potential shots. “Fill finish is a critical step in the process to get the vaccine in a form to be given to patients. The agreement with Wockhardt will boost our capability to ensure that,” Kate Bingham, chair of UK Vaccines Task Force, said in a statement. READ HERE

The UK government has also reserved one fill-and-finish production line at a Wockhardt subsidiary in Wrexham, Wales for its exclusive use for the next 18 months to secure supply. It is expected to start the Wexham line in September. 

AstraZeneca has indicated it would need 30 million fill-and-finish doses of their vaccine candidate, which the company intends to supply in the next few months, Wockhardt Chairman Habil Khorakiwala said. "The company has a fill-and-finish manufacturing capacity of 400 million doses in the UK and 600 million in India, for a combined capacity of 1 billion," Khorakiwala added.

There are over 18 million cases of novel coronavirus across the globe, of which 697,202 have succumbed to the disease.