(Alliance News) -Â The UK government on Friday said it has agreed access to 90 million doses of two promising Covid-19 vaccine candidates in deals with US drugmakers Novavax Inc and Johnson & Johnson.
Novavax has agreed to supply 60 million doses of NVX-CoV2373, its potential Covid-19 vaccine.
It will carry out a phase three trial to assess the efficacy of the vaccine in the UK population. The trial is expected to begin in the third quarter of this year, with the UK government supporting and providing infrastructure for the study to take place.
Novavax will expand its collaboration with Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, which will manufacture the antigen component of NVX-CoV2373 from its Billingham, Stockton-on-Tees site in the UK, in addition to its US sites in North Carolina and Texas.
The UK site is expected to produce up to 180 million doses annually.
"We are honoured to partner with the UK government to deliver a vaccine that could provide vital protection in the fight against the global health crisis," said Novavax President & Chief Executive Stanley Erck. "Our Phase 3 clinical trial in the UK will be a critical component to assess the efficacy of NVX-CoV2373, which in a Phase 1 trial has already demonstrated to be generally well-tolerated and to elicit robust antibody responses. We are also delighted to expand our collaboration with Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies to manufacture our antigen at its UK site."
The UK also will co-fund a global clinical trial with Johnson & Johnson's Janssen Pharmaceutical Cos and has secured 30 million doses of the Janssen vaccine.
If the vaccines are safe and successful in human trials, both could be delivered to the UK in mid-2021. They would be given first to priority groups, the government said, such as frontline health workers and the elderly.
Following Friday's update, the UK has now secured access to six different vaccine candidates, including the University of Oxford's vaccine being developed with AstraZeneca PLC, as well as agreements with the BioNTech-Pfizer Inc alliance, Valneva and GlaxoSmithKline PLC-Sanofi Pasteur.
"We are delighted to partner with Janssen that has demonstrated their long-term commitment to global health and vaccines by providing their Covid-19 vaccine across the world at no profit. It is also encouraging that Novavax's recent clinical data shows their vaccine triggers an immune response greater than that in patients who have recovered from the disease," said Kate Bingham, chair of the UK government's Vaccines Taskforce.
By Lucy Heming;Â lucyheming@alliancenews.com
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