Covovax Nod Likely by Sept, Need More Data For Delta: Novavax CEO

Covovax is known to work on Covid variants but the data of its effectiveness against the Delta variant is not known yet, Novavax CEO Stanley Erck said.

The Covovax shot developed by American vaccine-maker Novavax may be cleared for use in India between July and September, which would make it the fifth vaccine in the country. The vaccine would cost a "low single dollar" price per dose but is likely to be costlier than Covishield, the company's CEO said today in an exclusive interview. Stanley Erck, the president and CEO of Novavax, also said that while Covovax is known to work on Covid variants, the data of its effectiveness against the Delta variant is not known yet. "We have conducted clinical trials that show that the vaccine works extraordinarily well in phase 3 trials in the UK. And in the US we are in the last stages of preparing all of the clinical data, the safety data, and now the manufacturing data that has to go into a licensing package. Our expectation is that the package will be complete very soon, certainly in the coming quarter," Mr Erck said. While Novavax has shown 90 per cent effectiveness against Covid, more data is needed on whether it will protect against the Delta variant, a virulent and fast-spreading mutation that was detected in India and is driving fresh cases in parts of the world.