Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. is building on its position as the best performing stock in the S&P 500 this year as investors swoon over cancer drug data, booming sales, and an updated timeline for the company’s drug to combat the novel coronavirus.

Shares of the Tarrytown, New York-based drugmaker gained as much as 7.2 per cent in Tuesday’s session to bring its 2020 performance to an eye-popping 53 per cent gain. That places the company ahead of popular coronavirus plays like Clorox Co., Netflix Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.

The company is on pace for its best close since November 2015 and has added close to US$23.5 billion in market value this year.

The company said Tuesday that its experimental antibody treatment for Covid-19 could be available as soon as this fall, an expedited timeline for the drug that won’t be studied in humans until next month.

That announcement, paired with strong first-quarter sales that topped many expectations and promising data for its cancer medicine, won the day as analysts applauded the updates.

“Regeneron reported a robust first-quarter beating consensus on both revenue and EPS, and provided an update on its Covid antibody cocktail, which is heading into clinic in June across three populations,” Jefferies analyst Biren Amin wrote in a note to clients.

Cancer drug Libtayo “continues to deliver positive data in additional indications” with the next step being a move toward combination therapy with multiple trials underway.