Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc (INO)

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Focusing-on-emerging-markets, COVAXX secures $2.8B in vaccine pre-orders

US-based vaccine developer COVAXX may be lagging behind the frontrunners in clinical progress, but that hasn’t stopped them from securing enthusiastic buyers.

The company said it’s inked $2.8 billion worth of advance purchase commitments with Brazil, Ecuador, Peru and other countries to deliver more than 140 million doses of its vaccine. That rounds up to around $20 per dose — higher than the unit prices of Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna.

Notably, according to COVAXX Mei Mei Hu, its synthetic peptide-based vaccine is designed for “easy and affordable distribution, durability of response with the capability to further extend it with effective boosts, as well as the ability to adapt to a potential mutation in the virus while building on the first vaccines made available.”

Those first vaccines, the company added, would be available only in limited quantities and reserved for countries with the infrastructure and resources to handle the complex cold-chain distribution. Besides, billions of doses are needed in total to vaccinate the world.

“Our vaccine will be distributed globally, and our primary focus is on supplying emerging markets,” Lou Reese, co-founder and executive chairman, said in a statement.

With an early human trial underway in Taiwan and plans to begin Phase II/III in the coming months around Asia, Latin America and the US, COVAXX said its manufacturing facilities can produce 100 million doses by the first half of 2021, and up to 1 billion by the end of the year. — Amber Tong

https://endpts.com/covid-19-roundup-astrazenecas-90-efficacy-subgroup-had-an-age-cap-of-55-sinopharm-applies-for-vaccine-authorization-in-china/