(Reuters) – Novavax Inc. expects to produce up to 150 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine a month by May or June, it told its chief executive Reuters on Friday, a day after it reported provisional data showing that its effect was 89% effective in a Kingdom process.
Novavax expects to complete the clinical trial for its COVID-19 experimental vaccine in the next few weeks, but is already working on production to quickly reach full production capacity, said executive director Stanley Erck.
“We should be at full capacity starting in May or June, maybe up to one hundred and fifty million doses a month globally,” he said.
Shares of Novavax rose 65 percent Friday to $ 221.27
Erck said it is expected to take a few weeks for Novavax to record data from regulators in the UK, Europe and elsewhere, meaning the full review of his vaccine authorization could take “several months”.
Novavax on Thursday released initial results from a UK study showing that its vaccine is 89.3% effective in preventing COVID-19 and has been nearly as effective in protecting against the more highly contagious variant of coronavirus found for first time in the UK. It also protected against the strong variant of South Africa, albeit at a lower rate.
Erck said 16,000 volunteers had already taken part in his trial in the United States and that he was likely to reach his goal of 30,000 by the beginning of mid-February. The company reportedly observed them for about six weeks before examining the results, he added.
Novavax will initially focus its analysis of data from the US study on the main goal of preventing moderate to severe COVID-19 and then analyze the effectiveness of the shot against the various virus variants that have emerged.
The United States found the first cases of the coronavirus variant first detected in South Africa in South Carolina this week.
Novavax has supply contracts with the United States, Canada and Australia and is in talks with the European Union and on a supply agreement, the CEO said.
He added that his Maryland company has an agreement with the GAVI vaccine alliance to provide poorer countries with the project to be produced by India’s Serum Institute – the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer. It aims to produce 2 billion doses a year.
Novavax will begin scaling up vaccine production in February or March and expects its own production to increase in the second quarter, along with production from the Serum Institute and partners in South Korea and Japan, Erck said.
Vaccine launches in the EU and elsewhere have been hampered by supply problems, as manufacturers, including AstraZeneca Plc and Pfizer Inc, have said they will reduce their shipments, at least temporarily.
Additional reporting by Carl O’Donnell in New York; Edited by Caroline Humer and Bill Berkrot