Stanley Erck, Novavax CEO, stated Monday that his company has reached a “tipping point” in regards to COVID vaccines. He also noted that Novavax’s two-dose series against highly contagious Omicron strains will prove “very effective”.
He spoke on “Varney & Co.” but acknowledged that “nobody really knows efficacy data.”
He said that efficacy data from phase 3 clinical trials were available for the company, which “shows that our vaccine works between 90% and 100%” against both the original strain as well as the delta variant.
He said, “Now we have data we have just published in a paper that shows that with omicron we get an extremely potent response after 2 doses. Then when we boost after 6 months, we see multiple fold increase in antibodies for omicron.” It’s very effective against omicron, so we believe it.”
Two months ago, he made these comments after it was discovered that the company had faced serious hurdles in vaccine manufacturing. This delayed the rollout for several months.
Novavax was awarded $1.6 billion by the U.S. government in July 2020 to assist with the development and production of its coronavirus vaccine. Multiple sources close to the matter informed Politico in October, however, that Novavax was unable to produce a COVID-19-compliant vaccine meeting the Food and Drug Administration’s purity standards.
Novavax provided evidence that Novavax had tested and analyzed the issues in a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Sources claim that the company’s problems are more serious than originally thought.
The U.N.-backed COVAX initiative which aims at providing billions of COVID-19 vaccines to low and middle-income countries predicted in September that it would be able to provide a total number of 1.425 million doses by 2022 and 2 billion doses in the first quarter of 2022. Politico sources warn that the international vaccination campaign may not reach its goals due to production issues.
Erck spoke on “Varney & Co.” Monday to say that his company shipped 10 million doses of vaccine to Indonesia last week. He said, “It’s an extremely positive moment for our company.”
The World Health Organization gave an emergency approval earlier this month to Novavax’s coronavirus vaccine, also known as CovavaxTM. This allowed it to be included in the U.N.-backed program that provides vaccines to countries with lower incomes.
Novavax was the ninth vaccine to receive an emergency use authorization by the U.N. Health Agency, which is a vote of confidence in the company. Because it is refrigerated, the vaccine can be used to increase the global vaccine supply. This is in contrast to cold storage for other vaccines.
Erck also reported Monday that Novavax was granted an emergency use authorization in Indonesia and the Philippines. He noted that “we’ve filed with multiple regulatory agencies for approvals.” “We began with Indonesia and the Philippines. The vaccine was approved in Europe by WHO and the World Health Organization just recently.
