Novavax vaccine starts clinical trial in Mexico

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Novavax Inc. said Monday, Dec. 28th, it is starting a new clinical trial of up to 30,000 people in the U.S. and Mexico to test whether its experimental Covid-19 vaccine safely protects people from the disease.

Novavax’s shot will become the fifth Covid-19 vaccine to enter final-stage testing in the U.S., and if results are positive it could receive authorization sometime during 2021. Public-health officials say that despite the introduction of the first two Covid-19 vaccines in the U.S., additional vaccines will be needed to meet demand and control the pandemic.

Coronavirus – Tue Oct 13, 2020. Lead research nurse Vash Deelchand gives a demonstration of the vaccine trial process as Kate Bingham, Chair of the Government’s Vaccine Taskforce starts her Novavax trial at the Royal Free Hospital, north London. Picture date: Tuesday, October 13, 2020. Photo credit should read: Kirsty O’Connor/PA Wire URN:56026099 (Press Association via AP Images)

“We’ve come this far, this fast, but we need to get to the finish line,” said Francis S. Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, which is helping to fund the Novavax study. “That will require multiple vaccines using different approaches to ensure everyone is protected safely and effectively from this deadly disease.”

The company didn’t say when it expects to generate results from the new study, but it will likely be spring at the earliest. Studies of the first two vaccines from Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. took nearly four months for results to become available.

(FILES) In this file photo three potential coronavirus, COVID-19, vaccines are kept in a tray at Novavax labs in Gaithersburg, Maryland on March 20, 2020, one of the labs developing a vaccine for the coronavirus, COVID-19. – US biotech firm Novavax said Ton September 24, 2020 it was initiating its final Phase 3 clinical trial for its experimental Covid-19 vaccine. The trial will be carried out in the United Kingdom and aims to enroll 10,000 volunteers, aged 18-84, with and without underlying conditions, over the next four to six weeks. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

U.S. regulators authorized the emergency use of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines this month. Large U.S. studies of two more vaccines, from Johnson & Johnson and from AstraZeneca PLC and Oxford University, could yield results and potential authorizations by February, federal officials said recently.

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Source: WSJ

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