Novavax's protein-based jab offers better immunity against new variants: CEO Stanley Erck

The first batch of Covid-19 vaccines that were granted emergency approvals in 2020 and rolled out for immunisation in 2021 have not worked very well in providing long-term protection against newer variants and the world is waiting for newer jabs such as Novavax's protein vaccine, its CEO Stanley Erck said.

Novavax's protein-based vaccine was approved for emergency use by the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) last month. The company has a research and manufacturing alliance with Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), and the jab is branded as Covovax. It was approved in India last December for use in the 12-17 age group.

Efficacy Trials Held During Omicron Attack

In June, the vaccine was approved for the 7-12 age group.

"The AstraZeneca vaccine (immunity), I think, is going away. The J&J vaccine has also not worked," said Erck, a biotech veteran of 40 years.

The mRNA vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna were 'brilliant inventions', and had worked effectively. "I think the question is how long or what's the duration of protection that you get from mRNA vaccines. Speculation is that it may only last two or three months. It's recognised by the world that this is a problem and Pfizer and Moderna are both trying to formulate a vaccine that might have a longer duration of protection," he said in an interview with ET.

Erck was upbeat in his assessment of Novavax's vaccine. "We are new, so we don't have the durability data yet, but we have some evidence that our vaccine lasts longer than the mRNA vaccines. We do have data that shows effectiveness of up to a year. If you have a once-a-year shot, that would be acceptable. In the next three or four months we will get some data," said Erck.

He added that Novavax vaccine was the only one that went through efficacy trials when the new Omicron variants were circulating. "We have data that shows it works with 90 plus per cent effectiveness against the variants. So, when you look at the variants like BA4 and BA5, we can show that our vaccine stimulates broadly neutralising antibodies and people are protected," he said.

EU, Australia & US Approvals

Erck conceded that having a Covid-19 vaccine approved at this late stage may be seen as a disadvantage, but he asserted that people had been looking for a protein-based vaccine like the one developed by his company. "Within the last few weeks of the USFDA's approval, we're now approved in many parts of the world. If Covid went away, we would be irrelevant, but Covid is not going away," he said.

He also said that it was not possible for Novavax to build a large manufacturing base, and the USFDA approval was significant for SII as it has now got access to the US market. Over 3.5 million doses of the vaccine have been shipped to the US so far.

On the scope of future research on vaccines with SII, Erck noted the two companies are now moving into a partnership for flu vaccines.