Novavax Says Recent Data Shows Its Vaccine Likely To Protect Against New COVID-19 Variants

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 27th November, 2021) The recent data from the US biotechnology company Novavax, which is developing a vaccine against the novel coronavirus, said on Friday that its shot is likely to protect against new, emerging variants.

The new variant, B.1.1.529, is reported to carry an exceptionally high number of mutations, many of them in spike proteins that are the target of the vaccines, potentially making it even more transmissible.

"Recent data from our Phase 2 clinical trial showed that wild-type neutralizing antibodies increased more than 4-fold versus Primary vaccination series and that cross-reactive functional antibodies to the Alpha (B.1.1.7), Beta (B.1.351), and Delta variant strains increased six- to ten-fold with a booster dose of NVX-CoV2373. These data lead us to believe that our vaccine is likely to provide protection against new and emerging variants," the company said in a statement.

Novavax vowed to continue to work urgently to address the latest variant of the coronavirus.

"Specifically in response to the emerging coronavirus variant tentatively called Nu, Novavax has already initiated development of a new recombinant spike protein based on the known genetic sequence of B.1.1.529 and will have it ready to begin testing and manufacturing within the next few weeks," the statement said.

Novavax also said its recombinant nanoparticle technology allows the vaccine to adapt quickly to the changes in strains.

Earlier in the day, the World Health Organization (WHO) named the new strain Omicron and said the existing PCR diagnostic tools are able to detect this variant.