Trends of industry-leading biotechnology stocks during COVID-19

Abstract

The 2019-nCoV coronavirus has significantly impacted the macroeconomic outlook for countries across the world. The biotechnology sector experienced a relatively positive stock price outlook, which corroborates the trends exhibited by biotechnology stocks in previous pandemics such as SARS (2003) and AH1N1 (2009). During the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccine roll-out rates have been more efficient than in any other pandemic, as companies today are more experienced in combating the time constraint to create vaccines. Gilead Sciences Inc. saw its shares rise 18% after developing the first FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccine, 'remdesivir'. In contrast, AstraZeneca's shares fell 2.28% in 2021 after its vaccine underwent investigations into blood-clotting side effects and subsequent suspension from several countries. Companies developing mRNA vaccines like Moderna, BioNTech, and Pfizer witnessed surges in share prices ranging from 10% to 20%. Many newer biotech companies such as Genexie, Sanovi, OnoSec, and Vaxart have also developed vaccines for COVID-19. Share prices are more volatile for these less established companies. This paper observes how developing new technologies, staging clinical trials, obtaining FDA approvals, gaining publicity, and several other complex factors have profound impacts on the stock prices of these biotechnology companies.