Novavax to Receive up to $384 Million in Funding from CEPI for COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate

Novavax, a late-stage biotechnology company located in Gaithersburg, MD, announced on May 11, 2020 that the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) will invest up to $384 million of additional funding, in addition to the $4 million it invested in March, to advance the clinical development of NVX-CoV2373, Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

According to a Novavax press release, the funding will be used for:

• A Phase 1/2 clinical trial

• Process development for scaled-up production for the manufacturing of up to 100 million vaccine doses by end of 2020.

• Access to large-scale manufacturing capacity to produce over one billion doses during 2021.

“CEPI plays a vital role in advancing innovative technologies against the COVID-19 pandemic. Their partnership and support allows Novavax to leverage its innovative vaccine platform and expertise in this global crisis,” said Stanley C. Erck, president and CEO of Novavax, in the press release. “For the last few months, the entire Novavax team has been working nonstop in an ongoing effort to make our vaccine a reality, and we appreciate CEPI’s confidence in our technology platform and our progress.”

“The expansion of our partnership with Novavax represents CEPI’s single biggest investment to date,” said Richard Hatchett, CEO of CEPI, in the press release. “Our vaccine R&D programs are starting to show progress, so it is vital that we invest now to boost manufacturing capacity, so that our partners have the ability to produce vaccines at a global scale. We still have a long way to go, but we’re making important steps forward to deliver a safe, effective, and globally accessible vaccine as quickly as possible.”

Source: Novavax