Novavax, Inc. announced on Monday that its coronavirus vaccine candidate demonstrated 100% protection against moderate and severe COVID-19 in its North American trial with an overall 90.4% efficacy rate.
The company’s trial, which involved 29,960 participants across 119 locations in both the United States and Mexico, observed 77 cases overall with 63 in the placebo group and 14 in the group of people who received the vaccine. All the cases within the vaccine group were mild, and all hospitalizations occurred in the placebo group, the company said.
The results also showed a 91% efficacy rate among high-risk populations, which include those over the age of 65 and those under with certain comorbidities, and a 93% efficacy rate against predominant variants of the virus.
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“These data show consistent, high levels of efficacy and reaffirm the ability of the vaccine to prevent COVID-19 amid ongoing genetic evolution of the virus,” Dr. Gregory M. Glenn, president of research and development for Novavax, said in a news release. “Our vaccine will be a critical part of the solution to COVID-19 and we are grateful to the study participants and trial staff who made this study possible, as well as our supporters, including the U.S. Government.”
Novavax, based in Gaithersburg, Maryland, said it plans to file for authorization of its vaccine during the third quarter and expects a monthly manufacturing capacity of 100 million doses by the third quarter’s end. By the end of the fourth quarter, the company expects to be putting out 150 million doses per month.
Like the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, two of the three coronavirus vaccines currently authorized in the U.S., the Novavax vaccine requires two doses, though it uses a protein-based technology rather than messenger RNA like the others.
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As of Monday, 64.4% of U.S. adults have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, while 86.8% of those over 65 have received at least one dose and 52.4% of the adult population was fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
