Gaithersburg, Maryland-based Novavax has received an additional $384 million from the nonprofit Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations to advance its experimental COVID-19 vaccine.
Novavax stock soared by 60% in early Tuesday trading.
The Novavax vaccine showed promising results in animal trials, and it will start Phase 1 human trials this month in Australia. Phase 2 would be conducted in several countries if Phase 1 results show success.
The company will also use the money for scaled-up production of a successful vaccine, and says it could potentially allow manufacturing of up to 100 million vaccine doses by the end of 2020.
“The expansion of our partnership with Novavax represents CEPI’s single biggest investment to date,” said Richard Hatchett, chief executive of CEPI.
“Our vaccine R&D programs are starting to show progress, so it is vital that we invest now to boost manufacturing capacity, so that our partners have the ability to produce vaccines at a global scale,” he said.
CEPI initially invested $4 million in Novavax efforts in March.
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