Hester Biosciences share price surges 20%, hits upper circuit after collaborating with IIT Guwahati for COVID-19 vaccine

The share price of vaccines manufacturing company Hester Biosciences surged 20 percent, hitting upper circuit of Rs 1,366.90 per share intraday on April 29 after the company collaborated with IIT Guwahati to work on the vaccine development against COVID-19.

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati is collaborating with Hester Biosciences Limited, a pharmaceutical company based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, to work on the vaccine development against COVID-19. The agreement between the two parties was signed on April 15, the company said in a filing to exchanges.

The vaccine will be based on recombinant avian paramyxovirus based vector platform. The recombinant avian paramyxovirus-1 will be used to express the immunogenic protein of SARS-CoV-2. The recombinant avian paramyxovirus-1 expressing the SARS-CoV-2 protein could be used as a vaccine candidate for further study, it added.

"In the current pandemic situation of COVID-19, the world is looking at developing preventive and curative measures to safeguard mankind. IITG & Hester have collaborated to develop and manufacture a recombinant vaccine against COVID-19 disease as a preventive measure. Hester’s involvement would be from master seed development up to release of the commercial vaccine, said Rajiv Gandhi, CEO and MD, Hester Biosciences Limited.

The stock witnessed spurt in volume by more than 26.83 times and was trading with volumes of 9,260 shares, compared to its five day average of 482 shares, an increase of 1,822.76 percent. There were pending buy orders of 5,790 shares, with no sellers available.