Novavax aims for 2 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses with expanded Serum Institute deal

[September 15, 2020]  (Reuters) - Novavax Inc is doubling its COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing capacity to two billion doses under an agreement with Serum Institute of India, the U.S. company said on Tuesday.

In August, Novavax signed a deal with Serum Institute, the world's largest producer of vaccines, to produce a minimum of one billion doses of its vaccine candidate for low-and middle-income countries and India.

As part of the expanded agreement, Serum Institute will also manufacture the antigen component of the vaccine, which is dubbed NVX‑CoV2373.

The U.S. company's vaccine is in mid-stage trials after an early-stage trial showed it produced high levels of antibodies against the novel coronavirus.

Other drugmakers such as Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc have already begun large late-stage studies of their experimental vaccines.

(Reporting by Aakriti Bhalla in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

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