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Novavax gets $ 1.6 billion for COVID-19 vaccine
Vaccine production may begin at the end of 2020.
Novavax has received $1.6 billion from the U.S. government to conduct trials and produce a potential vaccine for the disease-causing coronavirus COVID-19. It is planned that by January next year, Novavax will be able to produce and deliver 100 million doses of the new vaccine to consumers.
Novavax received the largest cash grant from America's Department of Health and Human Services as part of the U.S. government's Operation Super Light Speed initiative, which aims to develop vaccines and therapies to combat COVID-19.
As Stanley Erk, Novavax CEO, told Reuters - the US Department of Health has funded the production of 100 million doses of the vaccine, which is expected to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2020 and can be completed by January-February next year. With funding from the federal government, the company will also be able to complete the third phase of the vaccine trial, namely its final stage with human testing.
According to Stanley Erk, the results of the first phase of vaccine testing will soon be known. At the same time, Novavax plans to begin testing in humans in August-September, and the third phase of tests will begin in October 2020.
In addition to Novavax, companies such as Johnson & Johnson ($456 million), Moderna Inc ($486 million) and COVID-19 ($1.2 billion) also received money to develop vaccines and therapies for AstraZeneca. At the same time, Emergent Biosolutions received $628 million to expand production capacity to create a potential vaccine and therapy for coronavirus.
According to US Secretary of Health Alex Azar, the appearance of Novavax in Operation Super-Light Speed increases the likelihood that at the end of 2020 the United States will have "at least one safe effective vaccine."
Another contract was awarded to Regeneron Pharmaceuticals ($450 million), which is developing treatments for COVID-19 disease with immune protein.
According to the head of Novavax, the company will soon transfer its vaccine production technology to a manufacturer (the name of the company was not reported), which has two large enterprises capable of providing vaccine production. Novavax is expected to produce about 50 million doses of the vaccine each month by early next year.
Novavax did not begin human vaccine trials until the end of May due to the fact that the vaccine is grown in insect cells, and this process can take 30 days before scientists can begin cleaning up a potential vaccine and mass production.
Although Novavax has not yet produced a licensed vaccine, Sanofi uses the same basic technology to produce a flu vaccine, "so the risk that we will not succeed is quite low," said Novavax President of Research and Development Gregory Glenn.
The vaccine created by Novavax works in combination with an adjuvant, a substance that enhances the immune response and helps the body build robust protection against the virus.
By VOA News.
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