Biotech firm Novavax to hold US trial of COVID-19 vaccine by end of November

WASHINGTON - US biotechnology company Novavax announced on Tuesday that the phase 3 clinical trial of its experimental COVID-19 vaccine in the United States and Mexico has been postponed to the end of November.

Novavax's phase 3 clinical trial, whose postponement was attributed to some delay from the original timeline of large-scale manufacturing, has obtained support from the US government.

The company called for the enrollment of up to 30,000 participants in the above two countries, the company said in a statement.

A separate phase 3 trial of the COVID-19 vaccine is undergoing in Britain, which began at the end of September in partnership with the British government's Vaccines Taskforce and had 5,500 volunteers enrolled to date.

Interim data from the UK trial is expected as soon as early first quarter 2021, the company said, adding that it will present data from its ongoing Phase 1/2 clinical trial on Friday during a meeting held by the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Novavax said in August that it will supply 60 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to Britain from as early as the first quarter of 2021.

It is also preparing to deliver 100 million doses to the United States by January after it was awarded 1.6 billion US dollars for its potential vaccine, according to Reuters.