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Novavax begins selecting volunteers for Phase 2 of its vaccine trials

pharmafile | August 25, 2020 | News story | Manufacturing and Production  

Novavax has started to enroll volunteers into the second phase of testing its COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

The Phase 2 trials will focus on elderly people, with participants aged 60 to 84 making up 50% of this stage of the study, and overall the trial will enroll 1,500 people. The company wants to assess how to deliver the vaccine safely while generating a significant immune response in older participants.

Earlier this month, the British Government signed a new deal with Novavax and Johnson & Johnson for 90 million doses of coronavirus vaccines. They want 60 million from Novavax specifically and have committed to helping with the Phase 3 trial of their candidate. The company has also agreed a deal to license their vaccine to the Serum Institute of India Private Limited (SIIPL) who aim to manufacture one billion doses for India. The revenue will be split between the company and SIIPL.

Novavax completed their Phase 1/2 study at the beginning of the month. The study examined 131 healthy participants aged between 18-59 years old and found the vaccine produced numerically superior amounts of antibody activity compared to those seen in human convalescent sera. The 131 participants mostly generated virus-neutralising antibodies, while the vaccine was well-tolerated and safe.

Conor Kavanagh

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