Novavax vaccine seems effective against COVID-19 in UK study
Novavax Inc. said on Thursday that its COVID-19 vaccine appears 89 percent effective based on early findings from a British study. The company said that the vaccine also seems to work, though not quite as well, against the new mutated strains of the virus circulating in the UK and South Africa.
62 participants of the study have been diagnosed with COVID-19
The study of 15,000 people in Britain is still underway. But an interim analysis found that 62 participants so far have been diagnosed with COVID-19, only six of them in the group that got the vaccine, and the rest who received dummy shots. The infections occurred at a time when Britain was experiencing a jump in COVID-19 caused by a more contagious variant.
The vaccine is nearly 96 percent effective against older strain
A preliminary analysis found over half of the trial participants who became infected had the mutated version. Novavax said that they suggest the vaccine is nearly 96 percent effective against the older strain and nearly 86 percent effective against the new variant.
The vaccine appears 60 percent effective among HIV-negative volunteers
Results from a smaller Novavax study suggests the vaccine does work against the COVID-19 South African strain, carrying the different mutation, but not nearly as well as it does against the UK variant The South African study included some volunteers with HIV. The company said, "Among the HIV-negative volunteers, the vaccine appears 60 percent effective. Including the immunocompromised volunteers, overall protection was 49 percent."
Novavax vaccine uses a different approach than current vaccines
Vaccines against COVID-19 train the body to recognize the spike protein that coats the new coronavirus. But the Novavax vaccine is made differently than the first shots being used. Called a recombinant protein vaccine, the company uses genetic engineering to grow harmless copies of the coronavirus spike protein in insect cells. Scientists extract and purify the protein and mix it in an immune-boosting chemical.
US study is recruiting volunteers to study the vaccine
The preliminary findings may help Novavax win authorization for its vaccine in Britain but the US government is funding a far larger study that's still recruiting volunteers.
