Novavax Covid-19 vaccine begins final phase of clinical trial

The American biotechnology company Novavax announced on Thursday, September 24, that it began in the United Kingdom a final phase clinical trial for its experimental vaccine against Covid-19, the eleventh vaccine in the world to reach this level of development.

The trial aims to include 10,000 participants between the ages of 18 and 84.

Due to the current high level of SARS-CoV-2 transmission, and given that it is likely to remain high in the UK, we optimistically anticipate that the trial will have rapid recruitment and produce short-term efficacy results. Novavax vaccine, Gregory Glenn, the company's director of research and development, said in a statement.

It is the eleventh experimental vaccine in the world to enter the final phase of clinical trials, involving tens of thousands of people: half of them receive a placebo and the other half receive the vaccine.

The most advanced western projects are those developed by the British AstraZeneca, a partner at the University of Oxford, and by the American companies Pfizer and Moderna. The Chinese and Russian COVID-19 vaccine projects have also reached the final phase of testing.

Novavax is one of six companies funded by the United States government. It has received more than $1.6 billion in public funds to finance the production of 100 million doses.