The omicron variant has shown no signs of slowing down as people prepare to celebrate the holiday season. Earlier this week, the CDC reported that omicron is now the dominant coronavirus strain in the United States, accounting for 73% of all cases. However, encouraging news from the initial results of a study has investors in a particular vaccine stock excited.
Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) recently reported the initial results of its study on NVX-CoV2373, its vaccine. The vaccine demonstrated “cross-reactive immune responses against omicron as well as other variants.” However, anti-spike antibody levels against the omicron variant were significantly higher after the third dose. In other words, the latest study suggests a three-shot regimen is better. Novavax explained that a booster shot, or even a vaccine tailored to fight against omicron, would be extremely important.
Novavax’s President of Research and Development Gregory Glenn added that:
“We are encouraged that boosted responses against all variants were comparable to those associated with high vaccine efficacy in our Phase 3 clinical trials, suggesting that NVX-CoV2373 can play an important role in the ongoing fight against new variants.”
In recent Novavax news, its vaccine was granted approval for adults in the European Union. The European Medicines Agency(EMA) said that data from two large studies showed the vaccine had an efficacy rate near 90%. Furthermore, Novavax’s vaccine is the fifth vaccine to win approval from the EMA. As a result, Novavax stated that it would start shipping vaccines to the EU starting in January 2022. However, the EU made no conclusions on the vaccine’s efficacy against the omicron variant.
With the encouraging news in mind, let’s take a deeper look into the results of the study and what it means for NVAX stock.
NVAX Stock: 5 Things to Know
- After two doses of Novavax’s vaccine, anti-spike antibody levels against omicron saw a 61.1-fold rise. However, after a third dose (six months after the second), antibody levels against omicron increased 73.5-fold.
- Novavax is currently conducting a Phase 3 trial in the U.S. and Mexico. Results showed that the immune responses from children were 2- to 4-fold higher than the responses from adults for all variants tested.
- Additionally, the vaccine maker has plans to ship 200 million doses to the E.U.
- Glenn remarked that “Given the continued evolution of the coronavirus, the development of an omicron vaccine could be necessary. Novavax has cloned, expressed and characterized the omicron spike protein vaccine and will soon enter the GMP-phase of production.”
- Novavax expects to begin clinical studies for an omicron-specific vaccine in January 2022.
On the date of publication, Eddie Pan did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
