Reporter Yoon So-young, biospectator
Corona 19 vaccine candidate’NVX–CoV2373′, 100% effective in preventing severe Corona 19
The final result was that Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine has a preventive efficiency of 96.4% in phase 3 clinical trials. The preventive efficiencies of NVX–CoV2373 against the British variant and South African variant were 86.3% and 55.4%, respectively.
NovaVax announced the final results of the phase 3 clinical trial of’NVX–CoV2373′, a candidate for COVID-19 vaccine in the UK on the 11th (local time), and the results of the phase 2b clinical trial in South Africa.
NovaVax revealed that, as a result of phase 3 clinical trials, the original COVID-19 prevention efficiency without mutation was 96.4%, and that the UK-type mutant virus was 86.3%. Accordingly, the overall prevention efficiency against the two types of viruses was 89.7%.
According to the announcement, the phase 3 clinical trial conducted in the UK was conducted with 15,000 applicants aged 18-84, and 27% of all applicants aged 65 and over. In clinical trials, 106 people were infected with COVID-19, of which 10 were in the vaccine group and 96 in the placebo group. There were a total of 5 patients with severe symptoms such as hospitalization or death due to COVID-19 infection, all of them in the placebo group, of which 4 were infected with the British variant virus.
NovaVax also conducted phase 2b clinical trials on 2665 people in South Africa, and as a result, it was announced that the prevention efficiency was 55.4% for HIV-negative participants and 48.6% for all participants. Novavacs noted that the South African variant virus (B.1.351/501Y.V2) was prevalent in South Africa at the time. In this clinical trial, all patients infected with COVID-19 with severe symptoms occurred in the placebo group.
Stanley C. Erck, CEO of NovaVax, said, “We are pleased with the result of significantly lowering not only the severe COVID-19 prevention but also mild to moderate COVID-19 infections, and we have proved the efficacy especially for the various variants of COVID-19.” “We achieved these results today, one year after WHO officially declared the Corona 19 pandemic, and we will work harder to develop vaccines in the future,” he said.
This result is not much different from the interim clinical results of NVX–CoV2373 announced by NovaVax in January. At the time, NovaVax announced that the prevention efficiency of Corona 19 without mutation was 95.6%, the British variant was 85.6%, and the South African variant was 60%.
Meanwhile, SK Bioscience signed a global production and supply contract for NVX–CoV2373 with NovaVax in August last year, and expanded the contract with technology transfer in February. Accordingly, SK Biosciences has the exclusive right to produce, license, and sell NVX–CoV2373 in Korea, and has decided to supply a vaccine of 40 million doses in Korea.