World News – CA – Novavax is on track to start U Q trial of a COVID-19 vaccine this month

(Reuters) – Novavax Inc. said on Monday it is on track to start a late U-program – a late-stage-based study of an experimental coronavirus vaccine later this month

The company also said that the NVX-CoV2373 vaccine has obtained a « fast track » status from the US Food and Drug Administration and that it expects data from the trial can support Ux authorization and approval

Novavax, which is testing the vaccine in a late-stage study in the UK, last month postponed starting the UC program by nearly a month due to delays in scaling up the manufacturing process

A handful of companies are testing their experimental coronavirus vaccines in late-stage studies Pfizer Inc. said on Monday that preliminary data from a pivotal trial of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine it developed with German partner BioNTech showed that it is 90% more effective.

Novavax said on the quarterly results conference call that Pfizer data was a good sign for other vaccines in development

Fast Track status allows companies to submit sections of a marketing request on a rolling basis as soon as some data becomes available, rather than waiting for all of the data before requesting approval

The company said its Phase 2 vaccine trial in South Africa had reached 50% of the scoring target. Novavax said it was the UK experience that scored 60% of the intended participants

Submitted a report by Manas Mishra and Marinalica Roy in Bengaluru and Karl O’Donnell in New York; Edited by Siraj Calofilla and Bill Berkrot

All quotes are at least 15 minutes late See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays

Novavax, Inc, Vaccine, Food and Drug Administration, Fast Track, NASDAQ: NVAX