By Kimberly Chin
International stocks trading in New York closed higher on Wednesday.
The S&P/BNY Mellon index of American depositary receipts rose 1.6% to 166.45. The European index improved 1.9% to 140.80. The Asian index rose 1.3% to 234.36. The Latin American index increased 1.7% to 213.42. And the emerging-markets index rose 1.3% to 401.66.
BioNTech SE's ADRs rose 5.9% after the company and its partner Pfizer Inc. said Wednesday that their Covid-19 vaccine will be partly produced in South Africa from next year. The deal -- under which the Cape Town-based Biovac Institute will fill vials of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and ready them for shipment -- follows growing pressure from the U.S., Europe and international organizations for drugmakers to do more to tackle global inequities in accessing Covid-19 shots. Biovac will deliver more than 100 million doses annually once its plant is fully operational next year, the companies said.
AnPac Bio-Medical Science Co.'s ADRs jumped 6.3% after the biotechnology company with operations in China and the U.S. said it has agreed to take a minority equity interest of 40% in Advanced Life Therapeutics Co. to perform contract research and development on integrated circuit-based components for medical devices that help treat cancer. AnPac expects to start receiving revenue from this project starting in the third quarter, it said.
Bayer AG's ADRs, which trade over the counter, rose 1.4% after the German conglomerate said Wednesday that its heart-failure treatment, Verquvo, was granted marketing authorization in the European Union.
Write to Kimberly Chin at kimberly.chin@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
07-21-21 1900ET
