Novavax- Serum Institute Come Together To Manufacture 'NVX‑CoV2373' COVID Vaccine; Aim To Increase Production To Over 2 Billion Doses

Vaccine Update: Biotechnology company Novavax on Tuesday announced an agreement with Serum Institute of India to manufacture and deliver Coronavirus Vaccine.

(Representative Image/ Getty)

Vaccine Update: Biotechnology company Novavax on Tuesday announced an agreement with Serum Institute of India to manufacture and deliver Coronavirus Vaccine. In an official statement released by today, Stanley C. Erck, President and Chief Executive Officer said, "Today’s agreement with Serum Institute enhances Novavax’ commitment to equitable global delivery of our COVID-19 vaccine. With this arrangement, we have now put in place a global supply chain that includes the recently acquired Praha Vaccines and partnerships with leading biologics manufacturers, enabling production on three continents." With this agreement, Novavax increases its manufacturing capacity of NVX-CoV2373 to over two billion doses annually, when all planned capacity has been brought online by mid-2021. Briefing further, Stanley C. Erck said that the vaccine is now in Phase 2 clinical trials and is likely to enter in Phase 3 efficacy trials around the world soon. "We continue to work with extraordinary urgency to develop our vaccine, now in Phase 2 clinical trials, and for which we anticipate starting Phase 3 efficacy trials around the world in the coming weeks," said the CEO of late-stage biotechnology company developing next-generation vaccines for serious infectious diseases. Know About NVX‑CoV2373 NVX‑CoV2373 is a stable, prefusion protein made using Novavax’ recombinant protein nanoparticle technology and includes Novavax’ proprietary Matrix‑M™ adjuvant. As described by the company, NVX‑CoV2373 is a vaccine candidate engineered from the genetic sequence of SARS‑CoV‑2, the virus that causes COVID-19 disease. NVX‑CoV2373 was created using Novavax’ recombinant nanoparticle technology to generate antigen derived from the coronavirus spike (S) protein and contains Novavax’ patented saponin-based Matrix-M™ adjuvant to enhance the immune response and stimulate high levels of neutralizing antibodies. As claimed by the Novavax, in its Phase 1 portion of the Phase 1/2 clinical trial, NVX‑CoV2373 was generally well-tolerated and elicited robust antibody responses numerically superior to that seen in human convalescent sera. Phase 2 clinical trials began in August 2020. Novavax has secured $2 billion in funding for its global coronavirus vaccine program, including up to $388 million in funding from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). The antigen component of NVX-CoV2373 is being manufactured at Novavax CZ in Bohumil, Czech Republic as well as many other sites including SIIPL in India, Biofabri in Spain, FDB in the United Kingdom, SK Bioscience in the Republic of Korea among others.