Novavax coronavirus vaccine shows promising immune response in an early stage clinical trial, according to the company’s announcement on Tuesday.
The potential vaccine is seen to prevent Covid-19, but the firm’s stock dropped briefly on concerns about its safety.
The phase one trial involved 131 healthy participants between the ages 18 and 59 at two areas in Australia. According to Novavax, 106 participants took one of four dose levels of the potential vaccine called NVX-CoV2373, with or without an adjuvant. An adjuvant refers to an ingredient that can strengthen the immune response. The remaining 25 patients took a placebo.
The biotech company says the clinical trial participants were given two doses of the potential vaccine via intramuscular injection around 21 days apart.
The promising Novavax coronavirus vaccine developed neutralizing antibodies, which researchers deem critical to develop immunity to the virus, and killer T-cells. Moreover, the neutralizing antibodies that surfaced were higher than those found in people who have recovered from the coronavirus infection. Novavax noted that the immune response was greater for those who had the adjuvant.
In addition, Novavax explained that the vaccine was well tolerated without serious adverse events. Most participants mentioned tenderness and pain at the injection after the first dose, with some patients also saying they had experienced fatigue, headaches, or muscle aches.
Side effects
Only one patient in the trial had a mild fever after a second dose, according to the company. Previous media reports and analysts mentioned eight possible hospitalizations related to the study, but Novavax said no patients had to be hospitalized.
Shares of the company dropped by as much as 32% in after-hours trading before later recovering and increasing more than 7%.
Public health authorities stress that there is no returning to “normal” until there is a coronavirus vaccine.
Novavax is one of the many companies racing to produce a vaccine to fight Covid-19, which has infected more than 18 million people around the world and killed at least 694,715 as of Tuesday, based on the data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization said there are more than 150 vaccines under development across the world, with at least 25 already in human trials.
WHO’s announcement comes less than two weeks after drug manufacturers Pfizer and Moderna both announced they started their late-stage trials for potential Covid-19 vaccines. Those trials will involve about 30,000 participants.
“The Phase 1 data demonstrate that NVX-CoV2373 with our Matrix-M adjuvant is a well‑tolerated COVID-19 vaccine with a robust immunogenicity profile,” Gregory Glenn, president of research and development at Novavax, said in a statement.
Caveats
The data on Novavax coronavirus vaccine seems promising, but scientists warn that there are concerns about the response of the human body when it has been infected with the virus. They believe there may have important implications for vaccine development, including how fast it can be distributed to the public.
Novavax’s candidate vaccine has synthesized pieces of the surface protein the coronavirus uses to infect humans.
