Who is buying the first Novavax vaccines

2 November 20212 years ago babelfish

Indonesia is the first nation to have authorized its use and other countries may soon do the same. All the details on the Novavax vaccine

Indonesia is the first country in the world to authorize the administration of the Covid vaccine produced by Novavax for emergency use. The vaccine has not yet been approved by either the European Medicines Agency (EMA) or the Food and Drug Administration (Fda), but it is expected to rule by the end of the year.

HOW IT'S DONE

The Novavax vaccine is a protein vaccine and uses a different technology from both the messenger RNA vaccines such as Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna and the viral vector vaccines of AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson.

It is a two-dose vaccine that uses Covid's Spike protein antigen, which is synthesized in the laboratory to be harmless to the recipient. This "recombinant protein" mechanism is actually not new as it has been in use for 30 years in vaccine development. The Atlantic , in fact, wrote in June : "The persistent hype around mRna vaccine technology is distracting us from other ways to end the pandemic."

It does not require the extremely cold storage temperatures that mRna vaccines need, in fact, it can be stored at a temperature between 2 and 8 degrees centigrade, which is not an indifferent aspect for transport and storage – especially in the poorest countries .

"This vaccine will be much easier to transport, store and distribute in a place like Indonesia, where we have many islands," said Indonesian epidemiologist Dicky Budiman quoted by Nbc News .

WHO PRODUCES IT

Novavax is a US biotech operating in the field of biotechnology. It develops vaccines and works in the clinical phase of development with the aim of providing new products that prevent a wide range of diseases.

For Indonesia, the Covid vaccine will be manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) and sold under the brand name of the Indian company Covovax.

In the coming weeks Novavax plans to apply for authorization for other facilities as well, such as its plant in the Czech Republic.

EFFECTIVENESS AND SIDE EFFECTS

In June, Novavax announced that its vaccine had been shown to be 90% effective against symptomatic Covid in a study of nearly 30,000 people in the United States and Mexico. According to the company, it also worked against the variants that were circulating in those countries at the time.

Side effects were mild and included pain at the injection site, headache, aches, and fatigue.

WHO BEGINS TO BUY IT

Indonesia, which has been hit hard by the pandemic (143,400 deaths are recorded, but could be many more due to the lack of tests and tracing), is the first nation in the world to authorize the administration of the Novavax vaccine.

But other Asian countries could soon follow his example. Budiman said that if the vaccine's launch is successful, it could lead to its approval and use in other developing nations.

Novavax, meanwhile, has made it known that it has already filed the authorization of the vaccine in the United Kingdom, the European Union, Canada, Australia, India and the Philippines. The company also expects regulators in these countries to make a decision on its vaccine within weeks, writes Reuters .

The biotech, along with its Japanese partner Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., said it was preparing to seek regulatory approval for the launch in Japan early next year.

THE EFFECTS IN THE BAG

The news agency also reports that following the biotech announcement that it had applied for emergency use of the vaccine to Canada and EMA, Novavax's shares were up about 13%.

CURIOSITY

While it hasn't put a single vaccine on the market in its 34-year history, Forbes notes , the U.S. government has bet heavily on Novavax's ability to rapidly develop a Covid vaccine.

Operation Warp Speed - the Trump administration's project to accelerate vaccine development and production – invested $ 1.6 billion in the company, more than any other investment in a vaccine manufacturer at the time.

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/chi-sta-comprando-i-primi-vaccini-di-novavax/ on Tue, 02 Nov 2021 11:28:47 +0000.