Novavax, Inc., a biotechnology company that develops next-generation vaccines for serious infectious diseases, announced that it has closed an advance purchase agreement ( APA) with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi) for the supply of its recombinant protein-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate to the COVAX Facility.
Under the APA, Novavax is expected to produce and distribute 350 million doses of NVX-CoV2373 to countries participating in the COVAX Facility, which was established to equitably allocate and distribute vaccines to participating countries and economies.
Under another purchase agreement with Gavi, the Serum Institute of India is expected to (Serum Institute) produce and deliver the remainder of the 1.1 billion doses of Novavax vaccine.
“This is a tremendous opportunity to partner with global organizations that are focused on accelerating equitable access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines, particularly in countries where vaccination rates are currently low,” said Stanley C. Erck , President. and CEO of Novavax. “This agreement is the culmination of a collaboration between CEPI, Gavi, Serum Institute and Novavax, who are partnering in our urgent mission to deliver significant quantities of vaccines to all countries, regardless of income level. Novavax thanks CEPI for its long-standing support and tireless work with Gavi as administrators of the COVAX Facility. “
According to the APA, Novavax expects to deliver doses with antigen and adjuvant manufactured in facilities directly funded by investments Novavax received from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). CEPI invested nearly $ 400 million in Novavax in spring 2020 to advance anticipated preclinical and clinical development, increased production, technology transfer, and reserve capacity for NVX-CoV2373 production.
“CEPI investments to expedite the clinical development and production of this vaccine candidate have been instrumental in enabling equitable access to the vaccine through COVAX,” said Dr. Richard Hatchett , CEO of CEPI. “With this agreement in place, the Novavax vaccine candidate will play a vital role in our mission to protect the people who are most exposed to COVID-19, no matter where they are from.”
“The current agreement with Novavax marks an important step toward COVAX’s goal of generating the world’s largest and most diverse suite of COVID-19 vaccines, and an important step toward our goal of delivering 2 billion doses of safe vaccines. and effective in 2021, “said Gavi CEO Dr. Seth Berkley . “Novavax’s commitment to not only directly supporting COVAX, but also transferring technology through other producers, sheds light on the comprehensive nature of COVAX and the type of collaboration that is needed to control this pandemic.”
Together, Novavax and the Serum Institute expect to begin delivery of the 1.1 billion cumulative doses in the third quarter of 2021, pending the receipt of appropriate regulatory clearances. Under the APA, Novavax will receive an initial payment from Gavi at the end of this month and an additional payment after securing the Emergency Use List for its vaccine from WHO. Additionally, Novavax has agreed to provide additional doses in the event that the Serum Institute is unable to deliver substantially the expected vaccine doses to the COVAX Facility.
Gavi will determine the vaccine dose allocation to all AMC eligible participants who are self-financing according to a tiered pricing schedule.
“CEPI’s anticipated support enabled Novavax to create a global supply network that we hope can deliver a significant percentage of the world’s vaccine supply through COVAX,” Erck continued. “We look forward to working steadily with the Serum Institute to meet our production capacity and working with the WHO to get the NVX-CoV2373 licensed as quickly as possible.”
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