Novavax COVID-19 vaccine was highly effective “but not against South Africa variant”, according to a report.
A vaccine developed by Novavax was highly effective in preventing COVID-19 but wasn’t effective against the South Africa COVID-19 variant, according to a report.
In a report on Inquirer, Novavax’s positive news — announcing that its two-shot COVID-19 vaccine was “89.3 percent effective” — was offset by results showing that it’s much less effective against a COVID-19 variant first identified in South Africa that was spreading quickly around the world.
According to the company, it would immediately start developing a new vaccine targeting the said COVID-19 variant.
“NVX-CoV2373 (Novavax’s name for the vaccine) has the potential to play an important role in solving this global public health crisis,” said the company’s president and CEO Stanley Erck.
READ ALSO | Novavax: COVID-19 Vaccine “89.3% Effective” In UK Trial
The UK trial involved 15,000 people age 18-84 — including 27% who were over the age of 65.
Inquirer also reported that the first interim analysis was based on 62 cases — 56 cases were observed in the placebo group versus six COVID-19 cases among people who received the vaccine.
The company’s preliminary analysis indicated that the B.1.1.7 — a COVID-19 variant first identified in the United Kingdom — was detected in over 50% of the confirmed cases. Efficacy by strain was calculated at 95.6% against the original strain of coronavirus disease and 85.6% against the UK COVID-19 variant.
According to a statement, Clive Dix — the chairperson of the UK Vaccine Taskforce — said that those were “spectacular results” and they’re very pleased to have helped Novavax with the development of the said vaccine.
However, Inquirer reported that the efficacy was much lower in a small clinical trial conducted in South Africa.
As per the report, the said study enrolled more than 4,400 patients from September to mid-January, during which time the “B.1.351” COVID-19 variant — which contained critical mutations along with the virus’ spike protein — was spreading rapidly through the country.
Overall efficacy was 49.4% in the said trial, but the figure increased to 60% among the 94% of trial participants who were HIV-negative.
According to Novavax, the company started working on new vaccines against emerging strains in early January and expected to select ideal candidates in the coming days, and then start clinical testing in the second quarter of the year 2021.
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