|
 Novavax, shares in which surge about 23% to $56.50 in premarket
trade, said it expects preliminary readings on safety and on
indicators of an immune response from the trial in July.
The announcement comes as drugmakers pause clinical trials on drugs
for other ailments to focus on COVID-19, the illness caused by the
novel coronavirus that has infected more than 5.3 million people
worldwide and resulted in more than 343,000 deaths.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday said that 10
experimental vaccines were being tested on humans, including the
Novavax compound.
Groups including CanSino, Moderna and an alliance between Oxford
university and AstraZeneca have moved or are close to moving on to
enlarged trials from initial testing on small groups of
participants.
Novavax last month said it had identified a candidate, NVX-CoV2373,
with which it planned to use its Matrix-M adjuvant to enhance immune
responses.
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Adjuvants are designed to boost the immune response induced by a vaccine and
provide longer-lasting protection against infections. Novavax said that the
Phase 1 trial in Australia would involve about 130 healthy participants aged 18
to 59, with a second phase to be conducted later in several countries, including
the United States.
The Phase 2 trial will assess immunity, safety and COVID-19 disease reduction in
a broader age range, Novavax said.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru and Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt;
Editing by Christopher Cushing and David Goodman)
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