Novavax is receiving $384 million in new funding for its work on a coronavirus vaccine from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness — the biggest investment from CEPI to date.
CEPI, which was launched to create a coordinated and intergovernmental plan to develop new vaccines, has doled out grants to a number of companies in the hunt for a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, including Inovio Pharmaceuticals (who received $9 million), CureVac ($8.3 million) and Moderna ($1 million). The new funds come on top of a $4 million grant already given to Novavax for its coronavirus vaccine program.
Novavax said the new funds will help fund testing of its lead candidate, a recombinant nanoparticle vaccine being combined with an adjuvant from Matrix-M, through phase 2 trials. It will also help the company ramp up manufacturing capacity. Novavax ultimately hopes to scale up production to 100 million doses of the vaccine by the end of this year.
Results from its phase 1 trial, happening this month in Australia, are expected in July.