The vaccine is the first to show that it is effective against new variants during trials, with high levels of protection seen in the variant that first emerged in the UK, and some protection against one found in South Africa. was first reported.
The trial involved more than 15,000 participants between the ages of 18-84, of whom 27% were 65 years or older – the group most at risk of the virus. Among them, 56 cases of Covid-19 were found in the placebo group and 6 cases in people who received the vaccine.
Half of the Covid-19 cases identified in the trial were found to be caused by the variant first seen in the UK.
Professor Paul Heath, lead investigator of the British Novavax trial, said the results were very important, especially with regard to the effectiveness against the British variant. He also said the findings had positive consequences for vaccine development as new variants appeared, adding that “there is a lot of light now at the end of the tunnel.”
“It tells us that while new variants are occurring, and will continue to occur naturally, it’s the nature of the virus, it does not necessarily mean that it will have a significant impact on our vaccines,” Heath told a news release. . information session for the UK’s Science Media Center.
However, the vaccine appears to be less effective in a separate phase 2b study conducted in South Africa, where it showed 60% efficacy. More than 4400 participants were involved in the trial, including 15 Covid-19 cases identified in people who received the vaccine and 29 in the placebo group – and 92% of the cases were caused by the variant first introduced in South Africa has been seen.
It is important that about one third of the participants had antibodies against the virus, which indicates that they are already infected by the original coronavirus and that, according to the company, it is not protected against the new variant.
Novavax said it plans to start developing a vaccine specifically targeted at the variant identified in South Africa. The company also said it has already begun work on a new version of the vaccine that could be used as a shot against emerging strains. It intends to start clinical trials in the second quarter of this year.
“The vaccines can be adapted relatively quickly, and that’s really important, because that means we can then stay ahead of the virus and continue to have vaccines that will be effective and can reduce these doses,” Heath said.
The company’s vaccine, known as NVX-CoV2373, “is the first vaccine to show not only high clinical efficacy against COVID-19, but also significant clinical efficacy against the rapidly emerging British and South African variants,” Stanley Erck, Novavax president and CEO, said in the announcement. “NVX-CoV2373 could play a key role in resolving this global public health crisis.”
As far as the trial in South Africa is concerned, ‘the 60% reduced risk against COVID-19 disease in vaccinated South Africans emphasizes the value of this vaccine in preventing diseases of the extremely worrying variant currently spreading in South Africa, and that is spreading worldwide, ‘Shabir Maddi, lead researcher in the Novavax Covid-19 vaccine trial in South Africa, said in the announcement.
The Novavax vaccine differs in design from both the Pfizer / BioNTech and Oxford / AstraZeneca versions. It consists of biosynthetic proteins produced from the DNA of SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes Covid-19 – which aims to elicit an immune response to the protein found in the coronavirus. The vein protein is a structure on the outside of the virus that uses it to end up in cells.
Heath described it as a ‘simple vaccination platform’ with ear proteins combined with a tool – a tool to improve the immune response. It is stable at 2 to 8 degrees Celsius, which means that, unlike the ultra-cold Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, it can be more easily transported to patients for use.
“This gives good confirmation that the ‘spike’ protein is an excellent target for vaccination,” said dr. Al Edwards, associate professor of biomedical technology at the University of Reading, told the Science Media Center in the United Kingdom. “This increases the potential global capacity for the production of COVID-19, because this type of vaccine can be produced in different factories into RNA or viral vaccines,” he added.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson welcomed the outcome of the British trial and welcomed the ‘good news’ that the candidate for vaccine was effective and in a tweet expressed his gratitude to ‘all the volunteers who made these results possible’.
“Our medicine regulator will now assess the vaccine that will be made in Teesside. If approved, we have 60m doses to order,” he added.
Novavax is also currently conducting a Phase 3 clinical trial in the United States and Mexico and a Phase 1/2 continuation in the U.S. and Australia, the data of which are expected as early as the first quarter of 2021.
CNN’s Meera Senthilingam contributed to this article.