Coronavirus: Novavax confirms 89% efficacy of its vaccine – Coronavirus

The American biotechnology company Novavax confirmed on Thursday that its vaccine was 89% efficient against COVID-19, but it was significantly reduced against the South African mutation, according to the final results of its clinical tests, says AFP, cited by Agerpres.

These tests require an emergency request to be made in the near future, especially in the UK, where Novavax announced last week that it wants to apply for authorization early in the second quarter of 2021. At the end of January, Novavax reported. similar intermediate results.

Phase 3 clinical trials were carried out in the UK in more than 15,000 people aged 18 to 84, of whom 27% were over 65.

Efficacy was 89.7% against symptomatic forms of the disease, with 96 cases of COVID-19 in the placebo group compared to 10 cases in the vaccinated group.

In detail, its efficacy was 96.4% against the initial coronavirus strain and 86.3% against the British mutation (B.1.1.7), according to the results reported by the company.

The vaccine, called NVX-CoV2373, was also very effective against severe forms of the disease: Five cases of COVID-19 were identified among the participants, but all were in the placebo group.

Another smaller study (phase 2b) was also conducted in 2665 participants in South Africa, where another variant (B.1.351) was spread over large areas.

In this case, the effectiveness of the vaccine was reduced to 48.6%.

The Novavax vaccine is administered in two doses and uses a different technology than those used for vaccines already widely approved in the world. It is a protein-based vaccine of the so-called “subunit” that triggers a virus-free immune response.

The company announced last week that it wants to apply for an emergency authorization in the United States in the second quarter of 2021, but it is not certain that the US health authorities will agree to study this application without waiting for the results of the tests for this vaccine. .In the USA.