SII plans to start clinical trials of Novavax for children in July
SII also hopes to introduce Covavax, which is a version of US firm Novavax's Covid-19 vaccine candidate, in India by September
The Serum Institute of India (SII) plans to start clinical trials of the Novavax vaccine against Covid-19 for children in July, news agency ANI reported on Thursday citing people familiar with the matter.
SII also hopes to introduce Covavax, which is a version of US firm Novavax's Covid-19 vaccine candidate, in the country by September, ANI also said.
Novavax Inc, which has a vaccine manufacturing agreement with SII, said on Monday its Covid-19 vaccine candidate was highly effective with 90.4 per cent efficacy overall and also showed high efficacy against predominantly circulating variants. The vaccine demonstrated 93 per cent efficacy against predominantly circulating variants of concern and variants of interest, Novavax said.
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Novavax said in a statement that the vaccine candidate, 'NVX-CoV2373', demonstrated 100 per cent protection against moderate and severe disease, 90.4 per cent efficacy overall and met the primary endpoint in its PREVENT-19 pivotal Phase 3 trial.
The study enrolled 29,960 participants across 119 sites in the US and Mexico to evaluate efficacy, safety and immunogenicity of the vaccine, it added.
On Tuesday, the Indian government said the efficacy data of Novavax vaccine against Covid-19 is promising and encouraging and its clinical trials are in an advanced stage of completion in India. NITI Aayog member (health) VK Paul said the data available in the public domain also indicates the vaccine is safe and highly effective.
"What we are learning from the available data is that this vaccine is very safe and it is highly effective but what makes this vaccine relevant for today is the fact that this vaccine will be produced in India by Serum Institute," he said during a press conference.
Paul said there is preparatory work already accomplished by the Serum Institute of India and that they are also conducting a bridging trial which is in advanced stages of completion.
"I am also hoping that they will also start trials on children which is of special interest to all of us. The pace of vaccination should see a renewed energy from next week onwards when we will realign our efforts, state efforts and effective scale-up at ground level are expected," he added.
