Ocugen jumps 27% after its COVID-19 vaccine shows potential effectiveness against virus variants

• Shares of Ocugen jumped 27% on Monday after the company announced positive news related to its COVID-19 vaccine.
• The company said Covaxin has shown signs of potential effectiveness against three variants of the coronavirus.
• Covaxin is India's COVID-19 vaccine, which Ocugen is codeveloping for the US market.

Shares of Ocugen jumped 27% to a near two-month high on Monday after the biopharmaceutical company announced that its COVID-19 vaccine has shown signs of potential effectiveness against three variants of the virus.

Covaxin, co-developed with Indian firm Bharat Biotech, demonstrated potential effectiveness against the variant of SARS-CoV-2 first discovered in Brazil.

A previous study conducted also suggested that Covaxin was effective against variants first seen in the UK and India, suggesting the vaccine's effectivity against multiple strains of COVID-19.

The company has submitted a comprehensive drug master file with the US Food and Drug Administration and is preparing the vaccine's emergency use authorization application, according to Dr. Shankar Musunuri, CEO and co-founder of Ocugen.

Currently, there are only three authorized and recommended vaccines in the US to prevent COVID-19, from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson.

In the recently shared second interim results of the phase 3 clinical trial, Covaxin demonstrated 78% overall efficacy and 100% in severe COVID-19 disease - including hospitalization.