Novavax Inc. NVAX,
said Monday it begins with a late-stage COVID-19 vaccine candidate with plans to enroll up to 30,000 volunteers at about 115 locations in the U.S. and Mexico. The trial is supported by partners from Operation Warp Speed, the federal government’s program aimed at rapidly developing vaccines and therapies, including the Department of Defense and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. (NIH), and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. Barda is providing up to $ 1.6 billion to fund the trial under an agreement from the Department of Defense. The trial will be randomized, placebo-monitored and the effectiveness of the treatment, called NVX-CoV2373, evaluated in patients 18 years and older. The shares were slightly higher on Monday and rose by more than 3000% in 2020 on hope for the vaccine.
