Novavax Working On New COVID-19 Vaccine To Combat Omicron Variant

Novavax Inc NVAX said it had started working on a version of its COVID-19 vaccine to target the variant detected in South Africa. It said that the shot would be ready for testing and manufacturing in the next few weeks, reports Reuters.

• Novavax's COVID-19 shot contains an actual version of the virus' spike protein that cannot cause disease but can trigger the immune system. 
• The vaccine developer said it had started developing a spike protein based explicitly on the known genetic sequence of the variant, B.1.1.529, dubbed Omicron.
• Related Link: Novavax Shares Are Rising On Incremental COVID-19 Vaccine Related News.
• Other vaccine developers, including BioNTech SE BNTX and Johnson & Johnson JNJ have said they are testing the effectiveness of their shots against the new variant.
• Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc INO said it had begun testing its vaccine candidate, INO-4800, to evaluate its effectiveness against the new variant. 
• It expects the testing to take about two weeks.
• Inovio also said it was simultaneously designing a new vaccine candidate that specifically targeted Omicron.
• "Best case scenario, INO-4800 ... will be completely resilient against omicron, but if that's not the case, then we will have a newly designed vaccine ready to go if need be," said Kate Broderick, senior vice president of Inovio's R&D division.
• Related Link: FDA Lifts Clinical Hold On Inovio's COVID-19 Vaccine Trial.
• Price Action: NVAX shares are up 4.29% at $227.32, while INO stock is up 4.55% at $7.58 during the premarket session on the last check Monday.
• Photo by Tumisu from Pixabay