Novavax: New vaccine with good efficacy

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Novavax serum also shows high efficacy against British coronavirus mutant B.1.1.7, less so against South African mutant.

US pharmaceutical company Novavax has announced a high efficacy rate for its Corona vaccine candidate. The drug showed 89.3 percent efficacy in the third and final study phase in subjects in the United Kingdom, the company announced Thursday. The vaccine could play an “important role” in managing the pandemic, Novavax CEO Stanley Erck said.

The Novavax drug also showed high efficacy against the coronavirus mutant known as B.1.1.7. first identified in the United Kingdom, which is particularly contagious, according to the company.

The drug showed 95.6 percent efficacy against earlier forms of the virus, according to the report, and an estimated 85.6 percent efficacy against B.1.1.7. The tests in the United Kingdom had involved 15,000 people aged 18 to 84.

Lower efficacy in South Africa mutant
In contrast, the efficacy of the Novavax vaccine candidate appears to be significantly lower in a virus mutant first identified in South Africa, which is considered particularly contagious. A smaller study in South Africa involving about 4400 subjects showed an efficacy of the drug of only 49.4 percent. These tests had taken place between September and mid-January – thus coinciding with a phase in which the mutant with the name B.1.351 began to spread strongly in the country.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was pleased with the results of the Novavax tests. British regulators would now review the drug, he said. If approved, the British government would order 60 million doses of the vaccine.

The EU is also considering its supply through Novavax. Approved in the European Union so far are Corona vaccines from Mainz-based Biontech and its U.S. partner Pfizer, as well as from U.S. company Moderna. This Friday, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) will decide on a recommendation for approval of the vaccine from the British-Swedish company Astrazeneca.

Astrazeneca’s agents, like that of Novavax, have the advantage that they do not have to be stored at such low temperatures as the other existing vaccines.