Novavax Inc. NVAX,
said Monday that it is starting a late trial of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, with the intention of enrolling up to 30,000 volunteers at about 115 locations in the US and Mexico. The process is supported by partners in Operation Warp Speed, a federal government program that aims to rapidly develop vaccines and therapies, including the Department of Defense and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which is part of the National Institutes of Health. (NIH), and the Authority for Advanced Biomedical Research and Development (BARDA), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Assistant Secretary’s Office for Preparedness and Response. Barda is providing up to $ 1.6 billion to fund the lawsuit under a Department of Defense agreement. The study will be randomized, placebo-controlled and will evaluate the effectiveness of treatment, called NVX-CoV2373, in patients 18 years of age and older. Shares were slightly higher on Monday and gained more than 3,000% in 2020 in hopes of the vaccine.