AstraZeneca and Novavax both announced vaccine deals in Europe. Shares of each were going in opposite directions on Friday.
AstraZeneca said it reached a deal with the European Commission to supply 400 million doses of its AZD1222 vaccine candidate, developed through a partnership with the University of Oxford. All member states of the European Union will have access to the vaccine on a no-profit basis during the pandemic. After promising Phase I/II trial results, the candidate entered Phase 3 trials to test how effective it is at preventing infection. Experts expect results this fall.
“With production in our European supply chain soon to be started, we hope to make the vaccine available widely and rapidly, with the first doses to be delivered by the end of 2020,” CEO Pascal Soriot said in the news release.
Novavax said the U.K. government will buy 60 million doses of its NVX-CoV2373 vaccine. It will also join with FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies to manufacture the antigen component of NVX-CoV2373 in the U.K. The company announced a similar antigen deal with South Korea’s SK Bioscience on Thursday.
The company also said it would collaborate with the U.K. government on a randomized, double-blind Phase 3 efficacy trial involving about 9,000 adults. It will begin in the third quarter.
“The trial will assess the ability of NVX-CoV2373 to protect against symptomatic COVID-19 disease as well as evaluate antibody and T-cell responses,” the company said.
Novavax stock (ticker: NVAX) popped 8.9% to $145.17 on Friday, while AstraZeneca stock (AZN) was down 1% to $55.26.
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