Highlights:
- Serum Institute seeks approval to conduct trials for Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine
- Novavax has claimed that its vaccine is 89.3% effective in preventing the killer virus
- Novavax is also stockpiling COVID-19 vaccines at 6 manufacturing plants
The biggest vaccine manufacturer of the world, by volume, Serum Institute of India (SII), is now seeking the permission from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to conduct a small domestic trial of the Novavax Coronavirus vaccine which has been found to be 89.3% effective in a trail which was conducted on the United Kingdom, said the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SII, Adar Poonawalla, while speaking to news agency Reuters on Friday.
Earlier in the day, the US based biotech firm Novavax said that its COVID-19 vaccine was 89.3% effective in preventing the killer virus in a trial which was conducted in the United Kingdom.
The firm also said that it was nearly as effective in protecting against the more highly contagious variant first discovered in Britain, as per a preliminary analysis.
The biotech firm has been reported to stockpile COVID-19 vaccines at 6 different manufacturing sites and said that it is expecting a total of 8 of its manufacturing plants situated in 7 countries to produce the vaccine at the rate of 2 billion (200 crore) doses a year which includes the ones it will get from SII who is one of the biggest players in the fight against COVID-19.
In a mid-stage trial conducted on its COVID-19 vaccines in South Africa, where the troubling new variant of the deadly virus is common, showed 60% effectiveness among people who did not have HIV.
In September 2019, the US based biotech firm, Novavax, had announced that it has come into a strategic deal with the world’s biggest vaccine manufacturer company, Serum Institute of India, and will produce 2 billion doses of the Coronavirus vaccine.
According to reports, Novavax has said that it has already started making new versions of its COVID-19 vaccine to protect against the emerging virus variants which emerged in early January and expects to select ideal candidates for a booster in the coming days.
The company also said that it is planning to begin clinical testing of these new vaccines in the second quarter of 2020.
Novavax has also received close to $ 388 million in backing from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation (CEPI), which is a Norway-based group backed by 14 governments, as well as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Britain’s Wellcome Trust.
