Hester Biosciences share price zoomed over 17 percent intraday on May 17 after the pharma company said it was in talks with Bharat Biotech for technology transfer to produce the coronavirus jab Covaxin.
The stock has surged over 30 percent in the last two days and was trading at Rs 2,899.95, up Rs 429.90, or 17.40 percent. It has touched a 52-week high of Rs 2,955.90. It has touched an intraday high of Rs 2,955.90 and an intraday low of Rs 2,623.00.
"A triparty consortium has been formed with the Government of Gujarat as the lead partner to explore the prospects of manufacturing the Covid vaccine through technology from Bharat Biotech," Hester said in a statement.
"The discussions are currently ongoing with Bharat Biotech towards reviewing the infrastructure at Hester, the technology adoption process and the regulatory compliance. Based on the outcome of the review, the next course of action will be determined," the statement added.
Bharat Biotech has already signed agreements with three public sector undertakings Hyderabad-based Indian Immunologicals Ltd, Mumbai-based Haffkine Biopharmaceuticals and Bharat Immunologicals and Biologicals Limited (BIBCOL), a DBT facility at Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh. Bharat Biotech has said that it will be adding 700 million doses per annum of Covaxin capacity by the end of 2021.
India's vaccination campaign has been hobbled by a shortage of jabs and efforts are on to augment supplies as the second wave pummels the country. The daily infections have slowed down a bit in the last few days but there are growing concerns over the virus spreading to rural areas, which lack healthcare infrastructure.