Emergent BioSolutions Inc. on Tuesday agreed to support both preclinical testing and phase 1 safety trials for a novel coronavirus vaccine candidate being developed by Novavax Inc., a clinical-stage vaccine company.
“We are pleased with our Novavax collaboration, which reflects Emergent’s commitment to advancing potential solutions to combat coronavirus disease,” Robert Kramer Sr., president and chief executive officer at Emergent BioSolutions, said in a statement.
Specifically, Emergent will utilize its molecule-to-market contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) services to bring Novavax’s experimental COVID-19 vaccine candidate to the clinic for testing and trials.
Syed Husain, senior vice president and CDMO business unit head at Emergent, said the company is proud to use its CDMO services to demonstrate its ability to rapidly deploy capabilities, capacities and expertise that support the development and commercialization of essential medicines.
“Always at the core of our response is our desire to fulfill our mission — to protect and enhance life,” said Husain.
Likewise, Kramer said that Emergent’s CDMO services allow the company to leverage its “long history in vaccines and therapeutics development and manufacturing, as well as our broad capabilities focused on medical countermeasures for emerging infectious diseases.”
As of today, there were more than 114,300 global cases of COVID-19 infection and at least 4,026 deaths, according to a Reuters tally.
This increasing threat, said Kramer, requires a comprehensive response.
“We continue to evaluate various vaccine, therapeutic and CDMO approaches to enable us to marshal resources to make a meaningful impact on this global public health emergency,” he said.
Under the terms of their agreement, Emergent will produce the COVID-19 experimental vaccine candidate, which is based on the proprietary recombinant protein nanoparticle technology platform of Novavax, and utilize the proprietary Matrix-M adjuvant to enhance immune responses, according to an Emergent statement released on Tuesday.
Emergent expects to use the COVID-19 experimental vaccine candidate in a phase 1 clinical study within the next four months.
With both companies headquartered in Gaithersburg, Md., Emergent plans to provide development services out of its Gaithersburg location, with manufacturing services provided out of its two Baltimore facilities.
Despite both publicly traded companies experiencing stock declines on Monday, their cooperative agreement so far today seems to be helping them rally on Wall Street, where Emergent is traded on the New York Stock Exchange and Novavax is traded on NASDAQ.
Novavax announced today that it landed $4 million in funding from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations to support development of its coronavirus vaccine candidate.