Berenberg stays at 'buy' on AstraZeneca, positive on antibody treatment

Analysts at Berenberg struck a positive note on AstraZeneca shares after the drugmaker published full immunogenicity data earlier in the session for its Covid-19 vaccine candidate, AZD 1222.

The data published in The Lancet supported researchers expectations for the vaccine's efficacy based on earlier data.

AstraZeneca and Oxford University, both of whom are working on AZD 1222, said the vaccine triggered a similar antibody and T-cell response - which is known an immunogenicity - in all age groups with no anti-vector immunity by age.

Side-effects meanwhile were in line with expectations and less common in adults over age 56.

The analysts attributed the lack of a share price reaction to rival Pfizer and Moderna's announcements regarding the effectiveness of their own vaccines to the fact that AstraZeneca's was based on a different mechanism of action.

Furthermore, AstraZeneca had already indicated that it would make the vaccine available on a "not-for-profit" basis.

So too, its long-lasting antibody treatment, AZD 7442, which might even offer vaccine-like properties, with about six months of efficacy, was not included in the analysts' base case financial estimates.

Nevertheless, they added that: "Although the role of antibody treatments now looks less exciting as vaccine readouts emerge positively, we believe they will still have a role to play."

Berenberg kept its recommendation for AstraZeneca at 'buy' with a target price of 105.0p.