The US manufacturer plans to deliver 69 million cans to the EU by the middle of the year.
(Photo: Reuters)
Frankfurt The US vaccine manufacturer Novavax will deliver around 69 million doses of its protein-based Coivd-19 vaccine to the European Union by the middle of the year. The first products are on the way, announced CEO Stanley Erck at the “JP Morgan Healthcare Conference”.
The Nuvaxovid vaccine was approved as the fifth Covid-19 vaccine in the EU at the end of last year.
For the US company, 2022 will be “a very busy and productive year”, as CEO Erck emphasized at the investor conference on Monday. Even if Novavax’s product will only be launched on the market months after the established mRNA and vector vaccines, Erck sees great market potential for his protein-based vaccine.
Almost twelve billion doses of vaccine are likely to be needed in the near future, he calculated the investors, namely for first vaccinations, booster and vaccinations for adolescents. In the industrialized countries alone, the demand is around 4.8 billion cans, according to Erck.
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The company is also betting that its protein-based vaccine will be consciously chosen by previous vaccine skeptics as an alternative to the vaccines that are already available.
Alternative to Biontech / Pfizer and Moderna
Nuvaxovid works differently than the mRNA vaccines from Biontech / Pfizer and Moderna: The vaccine consists of virus-like particles that contain the coronavirus spike protein. The body recognizes the proteins as foreign and the immune system is turned on – specific antibodies and T cells are formed. In mRNA preparations, on the other hand, body cells are stimulated with the help of fragments of genetic material to produce the spike protein themselves in order to trigger an immune response.
The Novavax vaccine, which has been tailored to the original virus from Wuhan, is injected in two doses about three weeks apart. The effectiveness of the protection against symptomatic infections was stated by the EU drug authority Ema to be around 90 percent.
As Novavax CEO Erck explained at the conference, various laboratory studies have shown that booster vaccinations with the Novavax vaccine produce significant increases in antibody levels even with virus mutations, with the increase in antibodies in the omicron variant being lower than in infections caused by the alpha , Beta or delta variants have been triggered. Novavax wants to investigate the effectiveness of a vaccine specially designed for the Omikron variant in further studies.
According to CEO Erck, the US company received approval for its vaccine in more than 170 countries last year, the majority of which were approved by the World Health Organization (WHO). Approval in Europe took place at the end of December. In addition, market permits have already been granted in Indonesia, the Philippines and India. Novavax is working closely with the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest manufacturer of vaccines by dose, to produce the vaccine.
Novavax expects further important approvals within the next 30 to 90 days in around ten other markets, including Australia, Great Britain, Canada and the USA.
Supply contracts for around two billion vaccine doses
Novavax has currently signed supply contracts for around two billion vaccine doses. The Novavax CEO emphasized that these and more will be available. The company has struggled with production problems over the past few months, which significantly delayed vaccine development and approval processes.
The majority of the Novavax vaccine is produced by the Serum Institute in India; other partners include the South Korean vaccine manufacturer SK Bioscience, the Spanish pharmaceutical company Biofabri, Mabion from Poland and Takeda and Fujifilm from Japan.
More than half of the two billion vaccine doses ordered by Novavax are intended for the Gavi and Covax vaccine initiatives for poorer countries; almost 600 million doses are to go to various industrialized countries, including 110 million doses to the USA.
The EU had concluded a supply contract with Novavax in August 2021 and, once the prerequisite was met, initially secured a delivery of up to 100 million cans. According to Erck, around 27 million cans will be delivered in the first quarter and a further 42 million in the second.
The new federal government announced at the end of December that it had ordered four million Novavax cans and that delivery was expected in January. The EU can also activate an option for 100 million more cans, with deliveries then extending into 2023.
Higher effectiveness against delta and omicron variants in adolescents
Novavax is also currently researching its vaccine in more than 2,200 adolescents aged twelve to 17 years. The study data so far show a higher effectiveness of the vaccine against the Delta and also the Omikron variant than in adults. The first applications for approval could be submitted in the first quarter. In addition, Novavax plans to start testing its vaccine in clinical trials with younger children in the first half of this year.
In the first nine months of 2021, Novavax had almost quintupled its sales to $ 924 million, thanks in part to supply contracts with various states. The net loss of $ 898 million was almost four times higher than the corresponding period last year. Novavax is currently valued at ten billion dollars on the stock exchange, at its peak the company was worth almost twice as much last year. The manufacturers of the mRNA Covid vaccines Biontech and Moderna are currently valued at 56 and 94 billion dollars, respectively.
More: After the EU decision: These are the most important questions and answers about the Novavax vaccine