There were no cases of severe illness or deaths among those who got the vaccine, the company said, in a sign that it could stop the worse effects of new variants that have cropped up.

The vaccine was 86% effective in protecting against the more contagious virus variant first discovered and now prevalent in the United Kingdom, for a combined 90% effectiveness rate overall based on data from infections of both versions of the coronavirus.

Novavax is also developing new formulations of its vaccine to protect against emerging variants and plans to initiate clinical testing of these shots in the second quarter of this year.

Novavax expects data from a 30,000-person trial in the United States and Mexico by early April.

The shot’s effectiveness in the South Africa trial declined to around 49% when the analysis included data from HIV-positive participants.

The vaccine could be cleared for use in the United States as soon as May if US regulators decide the UK data is enough to make a decision.

The drugmaker expects to have tens of millions of doses stockpiled and ready to ship in the United States when it receives authorization, CEO Stanley Erck told Reuters.

Novavax plans to produce its two-shot vaccine at eight manufacturing locations, including the Serum Institute of India.

If authorized, it would follow three COVID-19 vaccines previously approved for use in Britain from Pfizer and partner BioNTech, Moderna Inc and the AstraZeneca shot developed with Oxford University.

(Times of India)