Published 14:38 IST, January 30th 2021
'Hope to launch COVOVAX by June 2021': SII's Adar Poonawalla announces 2nd Covid vaccine
SII chief Adar Poonawalla on Friday announced that the drug-making company is hoping to launch Novanax's Coronavirus vaccine in India by June this year.
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Serum Institute India (SII) CEO Adar Poonawalla on Friday announced that the drug-making company is hoping to launch Novanax's coronavirus vaccine in India by June this year. In a tweet, Poonawalla said that his firm's partnership for a COVID-19 vaccine with Novavax has also published excellent efficacy results and that they have also applied to start trials in India.
'Hope to launch Covovax by June 2021!'
In India, Serum Institute will be manufacturing around 1 billion doses of the vaccine under the local brand Covovax, with half of them expected to be reserved for India.
Our partnership for a COVID-19 vaccine with @Novavax has also published excellent efficacy results. We have also applied to start trials in India. Hope to launch #COVOVAX by June 2021!
— Adar Poonawalla (@adarpoonawalla) January 30, 2021
SII has also applied to the drug controller's office to conduct a small domestic trial of Novavax Inc's COVID-19 vaccine, which was found to be 89.3% effective in a UK trial. Serum expected a decision on an Indian trial of Novavax's vaccine soon, Chief Executive Adar Poonawalla told Reuters on Friday, hours after the US company reported the efficacy data.
"We have already applied to the drug controller's office for the bridging trial, a few days ago," Poonawalla said. "So they should also give that approval soon now."
Novavax vaccine found effective against new UK COVID-19 variant
Meanwhile, Novavax has become the first immune dose to definitively confirm protection against the new variant of the deadly virus which was detected in the UK late last year. A late-stage clinical trial involving over 15,000 people in the UK found that the vaccine produced by the American firm is 89.3% effective in preventing coronavirus and offered 85.6% protection against the new British strain of COVID-19, which is up to 70% more transmissible.
A smaller, separate trial also showed that it was about 60% effective against the South African variant, despite concerns that this strain may not respond to vaccines.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson described the findings as good news and confirmed that the UK will now go ahead with the assessment and approval process for the jabs by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Once cleared for public use, Novavax will become the fourth vaccine to be deployed in the UK in the coming weeks, joining the Pfizer/BioNTech, Oxford/AstraZeneca and Moderna jabs.
The study was conducted in partnership with the UK government's Vaccines Taskforce and assessed efficacy during a period with high transmission and with a new UK variant strain of the virus emerging and circulating widely. "This is positive news and, if approved by the medicines regulator, the Novavax vaccine will be a significant boost to our vaccination programme and another weapon in our arsenal to beat this awful virus," said UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
The Novavax vaccine also requires two doses, like the other vaccines being administered to the most vulnerable groups. "NVX-CoV2373 is the first vaccine to demonstrate not only high clinical efficacy against COVID-19 but also significant clinical efficacy against both the rapidly emerging UK and South Africa variants," said Stanley C. Erck, President and Chief Executive Officer, Novavax.
While Pfizer and Moderna vaccines rely on technology that has not been used in previous vaccines, the Novavax jab uses a more traditional method of recreating part of the spike protein of the virus to stimulate the immune system and can be stored at normal refrigeration temperatures like the Oxford/AstraZeneca jabs.
14:38 IST, January 30th 2021