(Reuters) – Novavax Inc said on Monday that it began registering volunteers for the second phase of an ongoing clinical trial of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, with interim data expected in the fourth quarter of 2020.
In the new phase, the age range has been expanded, with adults between 60 and 84 years old accounting for almost 50% of the population of the trial.
Early stage data from a small clinical trial of the vaccine have shown that it produces high levels of anti-antibodies, and the company aims to launch larger studies to get regular approvals since December.
The vaccine candidate is one of nearly 30 that are being tested worldwide in human clinical trials and outperforms candidates of AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna who are in late-stage studies.
The U.S. government announced in November Novavax $ 1.6 billion to test and produce its vaccine in the United States, with the goal of delivering 100 million doses in January.
Britain has also pledged to buy 60 million doses of its vaccine candidate, some of which will be manufactured using Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies facilities in Stockton-on-Tees, northern England.
The study is aimed at enrolling up to 1,500 healthy volunteers on a maximum of 40 sites in the United States and Australia, Novavax said.
Last week, the drug developer began a mid-term study of its COVID-19 vaccine in South Africa.
(Report by Ankur Banerjee and Vishwadha Chander in Bengaluru; Edited by Arun Koyyur)
