(Reuters) – Novavax Inc. expects to produce up to 150 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine per month until May or June, its chief executive told Reuters on Friday, the day after reporting provisional data that showed his injection is 89% effective in UK attempts.
Novavax hopes to complete the clinical trial for its experimental vaccine COVID-19 in the coming weeks, but is already working on manufacturing to be able to reach full production capacity quickly, said CEO Stanley Erck.
“We should be at full capacity by May or June, perhaps as much as 150 million doses per month worldwide,” he said.
Novavax shares jumped 65% on Friday to $ 221.27
Erck said he expects it to take several weeks before Novavax files the test data with regulators in the UK, Europe and elsewhere, meaning that the complete overhaul for authorization of his vaccine could take “a few months”.
Novavax released on Thursday the initial results of a UK trial showing that its vaccine is 89.3% effective in preventing COVID-19 and was almost as effective in protecting against the most highly contagious variant of the coronavirus first discovered. in the UK. It also protected against South Africa’s potent variant, albeit at a lower rate.
Erck said 16,000 volunteers have already participated in his test in the United States and will likely reach his goal of 30,000 participants by mid-February. The company would then observe them for about six weeks before reviewing the results, he added.
Novavax will initially focus its review of study data in the U.S. on the primary objective of preventing moderate to severe COVID-19 and, subsequently, analyzing the effectiveness of the injection against various variants of worrying viruses that have emerged.
The United States found its first cases of the coronavirus variant first detected in South Africa, South Carolina, this week.
Novavax has supply contracts with the United States, Canada and Australia and is in negotiations with the European Union also for a supply agreement, said the CEO.
He added that his Maryland-based company has an agreement with the GAVI vaccine alliance to provide the poorest countries with their injection to be produced by the Serum Institute in India – the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer. It aims to produce 2 billion doses per year.
Novavax will begin increasing vaccine production in February or March, and expects to have its own production increased in the second quarter, along with production from the Serum Institute and partners in South Korea and Japan, said Erck.
Vaccine launches in the EU and elsewhere have been hampered by supply problems, as manufacturers like AstraZeneca Plc and Pfizer Inc said they would cut their shipments, at least temporarily.
Additional reporting by Carl O’Donnell in New York; Editing by Caroline Humer and Bill Berkrot