The share price of pharma company Pfizer India surged over 8 percent on Thursday after the firm's US arm said that the COVID-19 vaccine developed by it with Germany-based BioNTech has shown potential. The vaccine was found to be safe and well-tolerated in the early-stage human trials, the companies said.

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The stock rose as much as 8.5 percent to Rs 4,313.4 per share on the BSE. At 12:58 pm, the stock was trading at Rs 4,151 per share, up 4.44 percent.

The drug is one of the 17 being tested on humans in a frantic global race to find a vaccine the world is counting on to end a pandemic that has infected 10.5 million people and killed more than half a million so far.

No COVID-19 vaccine has yet been approved for commercial use. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology analysis last year found that about one in three vaccines in the first stage of testing later gains approval.

"These first trial results show that the vaccine yields immune activity and causes a strong immune response," said BioNTech's co-founder and CEO Ugur Sahin.

The potential treatment is the fourth early-stage COVID-19 drug to show promise in human testing, along with projects involving Moderna, CanSino Biologics and Inovio Pharmaceuticals.

Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech are in a race with companies including AstraZeneca Plc, Moderna Inc. and dozens of other biopharmaceutical outfits and academic groups to come up with a safe and effective vaccine against COVID-19. With almost 10.5 million confirmed cases around the globe and over half a million deaths, drugmakers are under increasing pressure to deliver.

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