By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – Novavax stock (NASDAQ:NVAX) surged 6% in Thursday’s premarket trading after the company said it two-dose Covid-19 vaccine demonstrated “strong immune responses” against Omicron and other variants.
A third dose given six months after showed an even stronger response, the company said.
Omicron has now been found in more than 90 countries and is now the dominant variant in many of those, including U.S. and U.K. The coronavirus variant is said to be at least twice as fast spreading as Delta, the variant that ravaged India in April-May and later the U.S. and parts of Europe. A consolation has been that new infections haven’t been reflected in increased hospitalizations.
Responses in adolescents were two- to four-fold higher than adults against all evaluated variants, Novavax added.
The company said findings from the study will be submitted for peer-review publication, adding that development of an Omicron-specific vaccine is on track to go into manufacturing early next month.
While Novavax has been late to the market in bringing its Covid-19 shots due to manufacturing challenges, the week saw the company’s proposed vaccine getting the European regulator’s approval for treating adults after WHO’s nod last week.
The shot has got authorization for emergency use in Indonesia and the Philippines, and the company has filed for similar approvals in U.K., U.A.E., Australia, New Zealand, India, Canada, Singapore and Japan. The WHO and the EU approvals should make those clearances easier.
If the company’s plans, as reported earlier, are on track, it should be filing with the Food and Drug Administration for approval in the U.S. in the next eight days.