Takeda Doses First Participant In Novavax COVID-19 Vaccine Study In Japan

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd (NYSE: TAK) said that the first patient had been dosed with Novavax Inc's (NASDAQ: NVAX) COVID-19 vaccine candidate (dubbed as TAK-019) in a Japanese clinical trial.
The first volunteer was given a Novavax shot in a Phase 1/2 immunogenicity and safety trial of 200 adult volunteers in Japan. Takeda will report the results from the study in the second half of 2021.
Takeda aims to start distributing TAK-019 in late 2021.
A separate Phase 1/2 study in Japan of the Moderna Inc's (NASDAQ: MRNA) vaccine (named TAK-919) has reached full enrollment of 200 participants after it began last month. Results from the study expected in the first half of 2021. Distribution of the vaccine to start soon after.
The company is helping bring two Western-developed COVID-19 vaccines to the domestic market. It plans to produce about 250 million doses of the Novavax vaccine in Japan and import 50 million doses of Moderna.
Japan secured rights to at least 564 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from several overseas makers.
Earlier this month, AstraZeneca filed for approval of its COVID-19 vaccine in Japan.
Price Action: TAK and NVAX closed 1.2% lower at $17.15 and 0.8% lower at $243.2 on Tuesday, while MRNA is up 2.9% at $154.5 in premarket trading on the last check Wednesday.