Shares of BioNTech SE (BNTX Get BioNTech SE Sponsored ADR Report were higher on Friday after the drugmaker told a news outlet that it would seek approval worldwide for its Covid-19 vaccine in children ages 5 to 11.
BioNTech's top two executives made the company's intentions known in an interview with German news service Der Spiegel.
"Already over the next few weeks we will file the results of our trial in five to 11 year olds with regulators across the world and will request approval of the vaccine in this age group, also here in Europe," Oezlem Tuereci, chief medical officer for BioNTech, said.
BioNTech has said it expected to file in September for approval for the children's vaccine dose. And it has said it plans to seek approval for a vaccine for children aged 6 months to 2 years later this year.
Shares of BioNTech at last check were rising 1.5% to $356.73.
The company markets its Covid vaccine for adults in partnership with Pfizer. (PFE Get Pfizer Inc. Report
On Thursday, Moderna (MRNA Get Moderna, Inc. Report said that a trial testing its shot in children ages six to 11 is now fully enrolled and that it was working on a different study involving children as young as six months.
Moderna also said that it is developing a single-dose vaccine that combines its Covid vaccine and its candidate flu vaccine.
The vaccine, called mRNA-1073, "encodes for the Covid-19 spike protein and the flu HA glycoproteins,” the company said in a statement for its 2021 research and development day.
Earlier this month, the Cambridge, Mass., company asked the FDA to approve use of a third shot (booster shot) of its Covid-19 vaccine.
