Research Finds Novavax COVID-19 Shot Approximately 90% Effective – NBC Los Angeles

Vaccine maker Novavax said in a large study conducted Monday in the United States and Mexico that its COVID-19 shots are highly effective against disease and protected against mutants. Said. Dose.

The two-shot vaccine is about 90% effective overall, and preliminary data showed that it was safe, the American company said. This makes the vaccine almost the same as the Pfizer and Modana vaccines.

Demand for COVID-19 vaccination in the United States has fallen dramatically, with more than enough doses in the United States, but the need for more vaccines around the world remains important. The Novavax vaccine, which is easy to store and transport, is expected to play an important role in increasing supply in the poorest parts of the world.

However, that support is still a few months away. The company, which is suffering from a shortage of raw materials, said it plans to seek approval for shots in the United States, Europe and elsewhere by the end of September, and will be able to produce up to 100 million shots. One month by then.

“Many of our initial doses … go to low-income and middle-income countries, which was our original goal,” said Stanley Erck, CEO of Novavax.

More than half of the U.S. population has been vaccinated at least once, but less than 1% of people in developing countries have been vaccinated once, according to a partial data collection effort conducted by the University of Oxford. is.

Novavax Shot is the fifth COVID-19 vaccine developed in the West and will gain clearance. The Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines have already been approved for use in the United States and Europe. Europe also uses the AstraZeneca formula.

About 30,000 people over the age of 18 participated in the Novavax survey. Two-thirds received two vaccines every three weeks and the rest received dummy shots. Almost half of the volunteers were black, Hispanic, Asian-American, or Native American, and 6% of the participants were in Mexico. Overall, 37% had high-risk health problems and 13% were 65 years or older.

There were 77 COVID-19s, 14 of which were in the vaccinated group and the rest were volunteers who received dummy shots. There were no moderate or severe illnesses in the vaccine group compared to 14 patients in the placebo group. One member of the group died.

The vaccine was first detected in the United Kingdom and is now mainstream in the United States, as well as at high-risk people, including the elderly, people with other health problems, and front-line workers in hospitals and meat processing plants. It was equally effective against several variants, including. ..

“These consistent results give people around the world great confidence in using this vaccine,” said Dr. Paul Heath, director of the Vaccine Institute at the University of London and St. George’s Hospital. I will.

The side effects were mostly mild, tenderness and pain at the injection site. There were no reports of abnormal blood clots or heart problems, Erck said.

An ongoing study in the United Kingdom is testing several vaccines, including Novabax, that are the most effective booster shots for people prescribed Pfizer or AstraZeneca. Industry analyst Kelechi Chikere said injections of Novabacs could be a “panacea” because they are effective and have few side effects.

Novavax will report the results in a news release and publish them in medical journals. There, an independent expert review is conducted. Based in Gaithersburg, Maryland, the company has previously published small studies in the United Kingdom and South Africa.

The COVID-19 vaccine trains the body to recognize the coronavirus, especially the peplomer that covers it, and prepares it to fight the virus. The Novavax vaccine is made from a laboratory-grown copy of the protein. This is unlike some other vaccines that are widely used today. These vaccines contain genetic instructions for the body to produce its own pepsomer.

The Novavax vaccine can be stored in a standard refrigerator for easy distribution.

Regarding delayed production shortages, Ark said they were due to restrictions on shipments from other countries.

Novavax added that he brought the necessary materials to the factory for a week or a few weeks.

The company has promised to supply the United States with 110 million doses and developing countries a total of 1.1 billion doses over the next year.

In May, the Vaccine Alliance Gavi, the leader of the UN-backed COVAX project to supply vaccines to poor countries, announced that it had signed a contract to purchase 350 million Novavax formulations. COVAX faces a serious shortage of vaccines after India’s largest supplier stopped exporting until the end of the year.

Novavax has been working on vaccine development for over 30 years, but has not yet put it on the market. The research on the coronavirus vaccine is partially funded by the US government.

Dr. Peter English, a vaccine expert who previously belonged to the British Medical Association, called the Novabax results “great news.” According to English, vaccine production is complex and it is important to get as many vaccines as possible.

“Small defects in the production plant can cause production to stop for days or weeks,” he said in a statement. “The more manufacturers that make vaccines, the more likely they are to get the vaccine. Will be higher. “

He also said the encouraging news was that Novabax could adapt its vaccine to varieties of potential future concern, if desired.

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Follow Linda A. Johnson on Twitter: LindaJ_onPharma

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AP Medical writer Maria Cheng contributed to this report.

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The Associated Press’s Department of Health Sciences is supported by the Department of Science Education at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. AP is solely responsible for all content.