Canada has inked two additional deals with companies working on a possible vaccine for COVID-19.
The two agreements include 76 million doses of Novavax Inc.’s vaccine candidate and 38 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s candidate.
They bring Canada’s total number of procurement agreements with vaccine developers to four, as deals with Pfizer Canada and Moderna were announced earlier this month.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged Monday that there is “a lot more work to go” on the development of any of these vaccines, but said the “broad range of vaccine developers” Canada has signed on with will be beneficial in the long run.
“It’s possible there will be a breakthrough soon, but we don’t know where or when that breakthrough will be,” he said.
“Taken together, our vaccine agreements will give Canada at least 88 million doses with options to obtain tens of millions more.”
Novavax — a biotechnology company that develops vaccines for serious infectious diseases — said it expects to finalize the advance purchase agreement “as early as the second quarter of 2021.”
Novavax’s vaccine (NVX-CoV2373) is currently in its second phase of clinical trials. The company plans to begin the third phase in September.
Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine is due to begin mid-stage trials this week. The Phase 2 trial is set to last two months.
[ Sign up for our Health IQ newsletter for the latest coronavirus updates ]
Vaccine trials by Pfizer Canada, which is working with BioNTech in Germany, and U.S.-based Moderna, have both advanced to the third stage of clinical trials. Canada has requested 20 million and 56 million doses of those candidates, respectively.
Monday’s announcement is the first glimpse of how many doses of vaccine candidates the government is working to secure. Previously, the government did not elaborate on the number of doses it was requesting from companies, merely saying “millions.”
The cost of the agreements is not yet clear.
Novavax’s vaccine has shown an ability to produce antibodies against COVID-19, according to initial data from an early-stage trial this month.
The company recently began enrolling volunteers for its second phase candidate, with data from that part of the clinical trial expected in the fourth quarter of 2020.
Globally, the Novavax vaccine is one of nearly 30 being tested in human clinical trials. However, it lags behind candidates from Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca, which are in later stages at this time.
The United States and Britain are also in deals with Novavax. The U.S. awarded the company $1.6 billion in July to test and manufacture its vaccine in the country, with the hopes of securing 100 million doses by January. Britain has requested to buy 60 million doses.
The Novavax vaccine, and any other potential vaccine, will be required to pass Health Canada regulatory approval before being distributed.
Anita Anand, the minister of public services and procurement, in a statement called the in-principle agreement “an important step” in the government’s efforts to secure a vaccine as the pandemic continues and “evolves.”
As of Aug. 30, the coronavirus pandemic has claimed 9,117 lives in Canada overall, and 127,870 cases have been diagnosed, according to figures released by provincial and territorial governments.
The vast majority of people diagnosed — about 89 per cent — have recovered from the viral illness.
More than 6.3 million tests have been conducted since late January.
— with files from Reuters and Global News’ Kerri Breen
View link »© 2020 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiRGh0dHBzOi8vZ2xvYmFsbmV3cy5jYS9uZXdzLzczMDczNDUvbm92YXZheC12YWNjaW5lLWNhbmFkYS1hZ3JlZW1lbnQv0gFIaHR0cHM6Ly9nbG9iYWxuZXdzLmNhL25ld3MvNzMwNzM0NS9ub3ZhdmF4LXZhY2NpbmUtY2FuYWRhLWFncmVlbWVudC9hbXAv?oc=5
2020-08-31 15:50:42Z
52781033670407
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar