Novavax Inc. NVAX,
said on Thursday that its COVID-19 vaccine appears 89% effective based on early results from a British study and that it appears to work – though not as well – against new mutant strains of the virus circulating in that country and South Africa. .
The shares increased by 27% when trading after Thursday, after the announcement.
The announcement comes amid concerns that a variety of vaccines launched around the world will be strong enough to protect against new worrying variants – and the world also needs new types of shoots to increase rare reserves.
The study of 15,000 people in the UK is still ongoing. But an interim analysis found that 62 participants had been diagnosed with COVID-19 so far – only six of them in the vaccine group and the others in fictitious photos.
The infections occurred at a time when the UK was facing a jump in COVID-19 caused by a more contagious variant. A preliminary analysis found that more than half of the study participants who were infected had the mutated version. The numbers are very small, but Novavax said it suggests the vaccine is almost 96% effective against the older coronavirus and almost 86% effective against the new variant.
Scientists have been even more concerned about a strain first discovered in South Africa that has various mutations – and the results of a smaller study from Novavax suggest that the vaccine works, but not as well as the Sea variant. Britain.
The study in South Africa included several HIV volunteers. Among HIV-negative volunteers, the vaccine appears to be 60% effective. Including immune-compromise volunteers, overall protection was 49%, the company said. While genetic testing is still ongoing, about 90% of the COVID-19 diseases found in the South African study to date occur due to the new mutant.
Preliminary findings could help Novavax gain authorization for its vaccine in the UK, but the US government is funding a much larger study that is still recruiting volunteers.
COVID-19 vaccines train the body to recognize the new coronavirus, especially the spike protein that covers it. But the Novavax candidate is made differently from the first photos used. Called the recombinant protein vaccine, the Maryland company uses genetic engineering to grow harmless copies of the spike coronavirus protein in insect cells. Scientists extract and purify the protein and then mix it into a chemical that boosts immunity.