Novavax Inc. NVAX,
said on Monday that it is starting a final stage test of its candidate vaccine COVID-19 with plans to enroll up to 30,000 volunteers at about 115 sites in the US and Mexico. The trial is being supported by partners in Operation Warp Speed, the federal government’s program to rapidly develop vaccines and therapies, including the Department of Defense and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health ( NIH) and the Advanced Biomedical Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response in the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Barda is providing up to $ 1.6 billion to finance the trial under a Department of Defense agreement. The trial will be randomized, placebo-controlled and will evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment, called NVX-CoV2373, in patients aged 18 years or older. Shares were slightly higher on Monday, and gained more than 3,000% in 2020 with hopes for the vaccine.
