Dec. 28 (UPI) — Novavax announced Monday that it’s moved to a Phase 3 clinical trial in the United States for its potential COVID-19 vaccine.
The company said it’s looking for 30,000 volunteers in the United States and Mexico for the late-stage trial for the NVX-CoV2373 vaccine candidate.
The trial will “evaluate the efficacy, safety and immunogenicity” of the vaccine, it said.
“With the COVID-19 pandemic raging around the globe, this trial is a critical step in building the global portfolio of safe and effective vaccines to protect the world’s population,” Novavax CEO Stanley Erck said in a statement.
“We are grateful for the hard work and assistance from Operation Warp Speed, the U.S. FDA and the government of Mexico on this program.”
Novavax has been one of a number of companies developing a coronavirus vaccine. Two messenger RNA vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna have already been approved for use in the United States and are presently being distributed.
“The launch of this study — the fifth investigational COVID-19 vaccine candidate to be tested in a Phase 3 trial in the United States — demonstrates our resolve to end the pandemic through development of multiple safe and effective vaccines,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious diseases expert.
Novavax has already begun a third-stage trial in Britain. Its move to the third phase in the United States was delayed by manufacturing problems.
