PremiumSerum Institute of India has started the production of the first batch of Novavax(known as Covovax in India) covid vaccine. Serum Institute of India (SII) CEO Adar Poonawalla in a tweet said the Novavax vaccine has "great potential to protect our future generations below the age of 18. Trials are ongoing." US-based Novavax Inc has a vaccine manufacturing agreement with Serum Institute of India, which also manufactures the Covishield vaccine currently administered in the country.
Novavax's vaccine exhibited a 90.4% overall efficacy in Phase-3 clinical trials. That puts it in the same bracket as two of the frontline vaccines being used in the US and European countries, the ones produced by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, which had efficacy rates of 91.3% and 90% in Phase 3 trials, respectively.
The Centre said that recently said that Novavax Covid vaccine efficacy data in a large trial are promising and that clinical trials are being conducted and are in an advanced stage of completion in India.
"What we're learning from data available in the public domain that this vaccine is very safe and highly effective," said Dr VK Paul, Member-Health, Niti Aayog said earlier this month.
Novavax had earlier said that its COVID-19 vaccine candidate was highly effective with 90.4% efficacy overall and also showed high efficacy against predominantly circulating variants. The vaccine candidate 'NVX-CoV2373' demonstrated 100% protection against moderate and severe disease, 90.4% efficacy overall, and met the primary endpoint in its PREVENT-19 pivotal Phase 3 trial, Novavax said in a statement.
The study enrolled 29,960 participants across 119 sites in the US and Mexico to evaluate efficacy, safety and immunogenicity of the vaccine, it added.
Upon regulatory approvals, Novavax remains on track to reach manufacturing capacity of 100 million doses per month by the end of the third quarter and 150 million doses per month by the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, it added. As per reports, the Novavax vaccine can be stored in standard refrigerators, making it easier to distribute. (With Agency Inputs)
