Novavax's Malaria Vaccine Candidate Shows 77% Efficacy In Mid-Stage Study

Novavax Inc NVAX has announced the pre-print publication of data from a Phase 2b trial in children evaluating its malaria vaccine candidate, R21, created by the University of Oxford. The three arms study recruited 450 participants.
The vaccine includes Novavax' Matrix-M adjuvant and is licensed to Serum Institute of India (SII).
Participants aged 5-17 months received 5 mg of R21 with either 25 mg or 50 mg of Matrix-M or a rabies vaccine as a control.
The researchers reported a vaccine efficacy of 77% in the higher adjuvant dose group and 71% in the lower adjuvant dose group.
The publication shows that both adjuvant dosage levels were well tolerated in young children with no reported severe reactions to the vaccine.
Also, participants vaccinated with R21/Matrix-M showed high titers of malaria-specific anti-N-acetylneuraminic acid phosphatase (NANP) antibodies 28 days after the third vaccination, which almost doubled with the higher adjuvant dose.
After a fourth dose, administered one year later, antibody levels were boosted to levels similar to the peak titers achieved following the primary series of vaccinations.
Under Novavax's agreement with Serum Institute, SII has the rights to use Matrix-M in the vaccine in regions where the disease is endemic and will pay Novavax royalties.
Additionally, Novavax will have commercial rights to sell and distribute the SII-manufactured vaccine in certain countries.
Price Action: NVAX shares are up 0.22% at $207.75 in the premarket session on the last check Friday.

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