Here’s another COVID vaccine for you!
Novavax, an American biotechnology company based in Maryland, has recently released promising results of its Phase III clinical trial.
The company said its experimental vaccine, called NVX-CoV2373, demonstrated 90.4% efficacy in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 infection, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The trial enrolled 29,960 adult volunteers in the United States and Mexico. The vaccine candidate has shown 100% protection against moderate and severe infection. Furthermore, it has shown 91% efficacy in preventing the disease in people at high risk of developing complications from COVID-19, especially those above 65 with certain comorbidities.
The NIH said safety data indicate the experimental vaccine was generally well-tolerated. Common side effects associated with NVX-CoV2373 included mild-to-moderate pain and tenderness at the site of injection, fatigue, headache, and muscle pain.
The experimental vaccine also demonstrated high efficacy against the Alpha variant of the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2).
However, with more than half of American adults now vaccinated against COVID, the biggest impact of Novavax results may be in other countries, according to Vox.
The Novavax vaccine candidate stands out from other vaccines because it is based on a technology that has not been deployed yet. Unlike other vaccines that need strict freezer requirements, the Novavax vaccine can be stored at ordinary refrigerator temperatures.
Stanley Erck, President and CEO of Novavax, said, “But the first approvals of the vaccine will likely come in other countries.”
He told the New York Times that the company may not even seek emergency authorization for its vaccine in the United States until September.
Novavax aims to scale up production, with a goal to distribute 150 million doses per month by the end of the year with factories in the United States, South Korea, and India, according to Vox.
Like Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, Novavax is a two-shot vaccine. If approved, it will be available at an expected cost of $16 per injection.
Dr. Ashish Jha, Dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, tweeted, “I realize that Novavax vaccine results won’t get the same attention as when we heard from Moderna, Pfizer, and J&J. But for vaccinating the world, this is huge. Very, very good news.”
“Novavax essential to vaccinating the globe,” he added. “That fact that it has 90% efficacy is awesome.”
The biotech company may still have a future role in the United States, as it is investigating how its experimental vaccine could work as a booster, offering protection against COVID. However, it is unclear how long the currently available COVID vaccines will last.
