Novavax Shares Up 4% On COVID-19 Vaccine Deal With Canada

(RTTNews) - Shares of Novavax Inc. (NVAX) are rising over 4% Monday morning, after the company announced an agreement in principle with the Government of Canada to supply up to 76 million doses of NVX-CoV2373, Novavax' COVID-19 vaccine.

The stock has been trading in the range of $3.54 - $189.40 for the past one year, and is currently trading at $112.90, up $5.11 or 4.81% Monday morning.

Novavax and Canada expect to finalize an advance purchase agreement under which Novavax would supply doses of NVX-CoV2373 to Canada beginning as early as the second quarter of 2021. This purchase arrangement would be subject to licensure of the Novavax vaccine by Health Canada.

NVX-CoV2373 is currently in multiple Phase 2 clinical trials. The Phase 2 portion of the Phase 1/2 clinical trial to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of NVX-CoV2373 began in August in the United States and Australia.

The Phases 1/2 expands on the age range of the Phase 1 portion by including older adults 60-84 years of age as approximately 50 percent of the trial population. Secondary objectives include preliminary evaluation of efficacy. In addition, a Phase 2b clinical trial to assess efficacy began in South Africa in August.

NVX-CoV2373 is a vaccine candidate engineered from the genetic sequence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 disease.

NVX-CoV2373 was created using Novavax' recombinant nanoparticle technology to generate antigen derived from the coronavirus spike (S) protein and contains Novavax' patented saponin-based Matrix-M adjuvant to enhance the immune response and stimulate high levels of neutralizing antibodies.