AstraZeneca Pharma shares tank 10% as firm pauses COVID vaccine trial

AstraZeneca Pharma share price tumbled over 10 percent in the morning tarde on September 9 after late-stage studies of a highly-anticipated COVID-19 vaccine candidate, being developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, have been put on temporary hold due to a suspected serious adverse reaction in a participant in the United Kingdom.

The company is now investigating if a report of a patient with a serious side effect is linked to the shot.

AstraZeneca, a frontrunner in the race for a COVID-19 vaccine, said in a statement on September 8 that the company’s “standard review process triggered a pause to vaccination to allow review of safety data.”

The AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine is seen as one of the most promising of the vaccines against the novel coronavirus infection that are currently under development.

The stock was trading at Rs 3,858.80, down Rs 356.00, or 8.45 percent. It has touched an intraday high of Rs 3,900.00 and an intraday low of Rs 3,650.

However, Shitij Gandhi, Senior Technical Analyst at SMC Global Securities has a buy on the stock with target price at Rs 5,175 per share. On the broader charts, the stock is maintaining its uptrend and can be seen trading in a rising channel with the formation of a higher high and higher low pattern, he said.