As lives and economies continue to be disrupted at a global scale, pressure mounts to find a COVID-19 vaccine. To date, hundreds of organizations have taken up the challenge of developing a vaccine — but only a handful of candidates have reached Phase 3 trials.
Latest updates
Wednesday, December 2: The UK becomes the first country to approve Pfizer’s vaccine for emergency use, with vaccine distribution expected for the following week.
Tuesday, December 1: Advisors to the Center for Disease Control recommended that the first doses of any COVID-19 vaccine should be given to health-care workers and workers in nursing homes and other care facilities, according to news reports.
Monday, November 30: Moderna files for emergency authorization of its vaccine, and the Washington Post reports that 40 million dose of COVID-19 vaccines could be distributed by year’s end.
Monday, November 23: AstraZeneca announces its vaccine is 70% effective based on preliminary Phase 3 trial data.
Wednesday, November 18: Pfizer releases final data from its Phase 3 study and amends the efficacy rate of its vaccine, stating its vaccine is 95% effective in preventing COVID-19.
Monday, November 16: Moderna announces its vaccine is 94.5% effective based on late-stage trial data.
Monday, November 9: Pfizer announces an early analysis of its two-dose vaccine is over 90% effective in preventing COVID-19.
Do any companies have a vaccine ready?
As of November 2020, the WHO’s draft landscape of COVID-19 vaccines includes 155 candidates in preclinical evaluation and 47 candidates in clinical trials. Of the 47 vaccines in clinical trials, only 10 have reached Phase 3 trials.
Of the 10 vaccines on the frontline, 4 are being developed in China, 1 is in Russia and several others are in the US or from multinational organizations. Not all are publicly listed, although most (aside from Russian Gamaleya Research Institute) have partnered with a listed company.
What are Phase 3 trials?
Phase 3 allows organizations to begin testing on large numbers of people – typically tens or hundreds of thousands of volunteers from around the world. It’s the final major hurdle before approval can be granted for licensing.
Unfortunately, this process can’t be rushed. Despite promises made by President Donald Trump of a vaccine being made available in 2020, Phase 3 trials typically take many months — even years — to complete. Only one vaccine is expected to complete its testing by 2021. The remaining vaccines expect to conclude their Phase 3 testing between 2022 and 2023.
Can I invest in COVID-19 vaccine stocks?
Yes. As long as the company developing the vaccine is a publicly-traded entity, investors can back as many COVID-19 vaccine candidates as they like.
As far as stock performance goes, many have seen staggering success. British firm NovaVax has seen its stock price rise 2,400%, while US biotech Moderna has risen 267% and Chinese vaccine maker CanSino Biologics is up 167%.
With so much resting on a cure, it makes sense that investors are bullish. But with so many companies joining the hunt – many of which have only recently listed – it’s not always easy to work out which ones have the most or the least potential.
Below are the 10 publicly listed companies whose vaccine candidates have reached Phase 3 testing.
Note: Study completion dates are estimates made by the researchers at the time they started the study, as published by WHO.
AstraZeneca is a British multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Cambridge. It partnered with Oxford University to begin trials on a COVID-19 vaccine in July this year.
YTD performance (to September 29th): 9.30%
Market capitalization: $139,890,343,936
Study start date: August 17, 2020
Estimated completion date: October 5, 2022
Status: Phase 3 trials
2. Sinovac Biotech Ltd (NASDAQ: SVA)
Sinovac Biotech is a Chinese biotechnology company headquartered in Beijing. It expects to begin analyzing final-stage data from human trials this year.
Pfizer Inc is a US pharmaceutical company. It has partnered with German biotech company BioNTech and Chinese pharmaceutical firm Fosun Pharma to trial and manufacture a vaccine candidate.
YTD performance (to September 29th): -7.12%
Market capitalization: $209,738,809,344
Study start date: April 29, 2020
Estimated completion date: November 14, 2022
Status: Phase 3 trials
4. Sinopharm (HKEX: 1099)
Sinopharm Group is a Chinese pharmaceuticals company currently trialing two vaccine candidates in partnership with the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products and the Beijing Institute of Biological Products. Both vaccines are in Phase 3 human testing as of September.
Moderna is an American biotechnology company. In April 2020, it received a $483 million grant from the US government to accelerate the development of a coronavirus vaccine in partnership with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. In August 2020, it entered Phase 3 human trials.
YTD performance (to September 29th): 266.87%
Market capitalization: $64,031,928,320
Study start date: July 27, 2020
Estimated completion date: October 27, 2022
Status: Phase 3 trials
6. CanSino Biologics (HKEX: 6185)
CanSino Biologics is a Chinese vaccine maker working in partnership with the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology to trial a COVID-19 vaccine. Governments in Mexico, Pakistan and Russia have all agreed to begin Phase 3 testing using CanSino’s vaccine candidate.
American pharmaceutical corporation Johnson & Johnson is the parent company of Janssen Vaccines & Prevention. Janssen began Phase 3 testing of a COVID-19 vaccine in September 2020.
BioNTech is a German biotechnology company. It has partnered with Chinese pharmaceutical firm Fosun Pharma and US pharmaceutical company Pfizer to trial and manufacture a vaccine candidate.
Fosun Pharma is a Chinese pharmaceutical firm. It has partnered with German biotech company BioNTech and US pharmaceutical company Pfizer to trial and manufacture a vaccine candidate.
YTD performance (to September 29th): 37.18%
Market capitalization: $107,347,673,088
Study start date: April 29, 2020
Estimated completion date: November 14, 2022
Status: Phase 3 trials
How to buy COVID-19 stocks
A number of the listed companies working on a COVID-19 cure are from countries outside the US. And most US brokerages only offer access to domestic stock exchanges, like the NYSE and NASDAQ.
That said, some international companies dual-list in the US, like AstraZeneca and Sinovac Biotech. Both can be accessed on the NASDAQ.
But if you’d like to invest in any of the others, be prepared to open an international brokerage account with a platform that offers access to global markets, like Charles Schwab, Fidelity or Interactive Brokers. These brokerages can connect you to overseas exchanges, but consider the platform’s fees and exchange rates before you apply.
We evaluate stock trading platforms against a range of metrics that include fees, ease of use, available securities and advanced tools to meet specific investor needs. We encourage you to compare stock platforms to find one that's best for your particular budget and goals.
Our pick for building a portfolio. We chose SoFi for this category because it offers both commission-free stocks and a free robo-advisor. That means you can open an active investing account to pick and choose companies you want to invest in, and open a robo-advisor account to help you build a portfolio and manage how much risk you take on.
Our pick for active traders. We picked Interactive Brokers for this category because it offers advanced tools and low fees for active investors and pros. The simpler IBKR Lite platform is aimed at less-active investors, but all users older than 21 must meet a $20,000 liquid net worth requirement for a cash account.
Disclaimer: The value of any investment can go up or down depending on news, trends and market conditions. We are not investment advisers, so do your own due diligence to understand the risks before you invest.
Shannon Terrell is a senior writer for Finder who has written over 400 personal finance guides. With a focus on investments and personal finance, she breaks down jargon-laden topics to help others make informed financial decisions. She studied communications and English literature at the University of Toronto.
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